Ornamental Chasmophytes of Urumbikkara Hills, Western Ghats Region of Idukki District, Kerala, India

The present study on the ornamental chasmophytes in the rocky habitats of Urumbikkara hills of Idukki district, Kerala reveals that, there are about 52 species of ornamental chasmophytic plants belonging to 46 genera and 29 families were collected because of their aesthetic value in both domestic and rock garden practices. These chasmophytes also possess certain biological peculiarities with different interesting adaptations and flower colour which can attract many people for making domestic or rock garden for ornamental purposes and psychological beneficial

Time-Domain Characterization of Dual Band Spiral Antenna with WMTS/UWB Application

A coplanar waveguide- (CPW-) fed spiral antenna with dual band application is presented. The antenna is designed to operate over the UWB (3.1–10.6 GHz) band as well as in a lower band suitable for WMTS (1.395–1.4 GHz). Frequency domain characterization shows that the antenna is well matched with appreciable gain in both bands. Time-domain studies are carried out to check the suitability of the antenna in pulsed communication. A prototype of the antenna is fabricated and measured results show low group delay variation in the UWB. FWHM and ringing of antenna impulse response, fidelity factor, and radiated power spectral density are also presented

Nmp4/CIZ suppresses the response of bone to anabolic parathyroid hormone by regulating both osteoblasts and osteoclasts

How parathyroid hormone (PTH) increases bone mass is unclear, but understanding this phenomenon is significant to the improvement of osteoporosis therapy. Nmp4/CIZ is a nucleocytoplasmic shuttling transcriptional repressor that suppresses PTH-induced osteoblast gene expression and hormone-stimulated gains in murine femoral trabecular bone. To further characterize Nmp4/CIZ suppression of hormone-mediated bone growth, we treated 10-week-old Nmp4-knockout (KO) and wild-type (WT) mice with intermittent human PTH(1–34) at 30 μg/kg daily or vehicle, 7 days/week, for 2, 3, or 7 weeks. Null mice treated with hormone (7 weeks) gained more vertebral and tibial cancellous bone than WT animals, paralleling the exaggerated response in the femur. Interestingly, Nmp4/CIZ suppression of this hormone-stimulated bone formation was not apparent during the first 2 weeks of treatment. Consistent with the null mice enhanced PTH-stimulated addition of trabecular bone, these animals exhibited an augmented hormone-induced increase in serum osteocalcin 3 weeks into treatment. Unexpectedly, the Nmp4-KO mice displayed an osteoclast phenotype. Serum C-terminal telopeptide, a marker for bone resorption, was elevated in the null mice, irrespective of treatment. Nmp4-KO bone marrow cultures produced more osteoclasts, which exhibited elevated resorbing activity, compared to WT cultures. The expression of several genes critical to the development of both osteoblasts and osteoclasts was elevated in Nmp4-KO mice at 2 weeks, but not 3 weeks, of hormone exposure. We propose that Nmp4/CIZ dampens PTH-induced improvement of trabecular bone throughout the skeleton by transiently suppressing hormone-stimulated increases in the expression of proteins key to the required enhanced activity and number of both osteoblasts and osteoclasts

Biofortification in underutilized staple crops for nutrition in Asia and Africa

Malnutrition is one of the biggest public health challenges of the century with about 2 billion people affected by it globally. Biofortification is the process of breeding micronutrients traits into staple food crops, which is bioavailable to make a positive measurable impact to the population that eats such staples on a daily basis. It is a cost-effective, sustainable strategy and complementary in nature to the existing market interventions. Iron pearl millet, iron beans, vitamin A cassava and orange sweet potato can contribute to increase household nutrition in the Asia and Africa. Over the years evidences gathered by partners in crop breeding, nutrition studies and delivery experiences will help to build the foundation for scaling out further to reach millions who need the most

Integrated sensing and delivery of oxygen for next-generation smart wound dressings

Chronic wounds affect over 6.5 million Americans and are notoriously difficult to treat. Suboptimal oxygenation of the wound bed is one of the most critical and treatable wound management factors, but existing oxygenation systems do not enable concurrent measurement and delivery of oxygen in a convenient wearable platform. Thus, we developed a low-cost alternative for continuous O2 delivery and sensing comprising of an inexpensive, paper-based, biocompatible, flexible platform for locally generating and measuring oxygen in a wound region. The platform takes advantage of recent developments in the fabrication of flexible microsystems including the incorporation of paper as a substrate and the use of a scalable manufacturing technology, inkjet printing. Here, we demonstrate the functionality of the oxygenation patch, capable of increasing oxygen concentration in a gel substrate by 13% (5 ppm) in 1 h. The platform is able to sense oxygen in a range of 5–26 ppm. In vivo studies demonstrate the biocompatibility of the patch and its ability to double or triple the oxygen level in the wound bed to clinically relevant levels

Omecamtiv mecarbil in chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, GALACTIC‐HF: baseline characteristics and comparison with contemporary clinical trials

Aims: The safety and efficacy of the novel selective cardiac myosin activator, omecamtiv mecarbil, in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is tested in the Global Approach to Lowering Adverse Cardiac outcomes Through Improving Contractility in Heart Failure (GALACTIC‐HF) trial. Here we describe the baseline characteristics of participants in GALACTIC‐HF and how these compare with other contemporary trials. Methods and Results: Adults with established HFrEF, New York Heart Association functional class (NYHA) ≥ II, EF ≤35%, elevated natriuretic peptides and either current hospitalization for HF or history of hospitalization/ emergency department visit for HF within a year were randomized to either placebo or omecamtiv mecarbil (pharmacokinetic‐guided dosing: 25, 37.5 or 50 mg bid). 8256 patients [male (79%), non‐white (22%), mean age 65 years] were enrolled with a mean EF 27%, ischemic etiology in 54%, NYHA II 53% and III/IV 47%, and median NT‐proBNP 1971 pg/mL. HF therapies at baseline were among the most effectively employed in contemporary HF trials. GALACTIC‐HF randomized patients representative of recent HF registries and trials with substantial numbers of patients also having characteristics understudied in previous trials including more from North America (n = 1386), enrolled as inpatients (n = 2084), systolic blood pressure < 100 mmHg (n = 1127), estimated glomerular filtration rate < 30 mL/min/1.73 m2 (n = 528), and treated with sacubitril‐valsartan at baseline (n = 1594). Conclusions: GALACTIC‐HF enrolled a well‐treated, high‐risk population from both inpatient and outpatient settings, which will provide a definitive evaluation of the efficacy and safety of this novel therapy, as well as informing its potential future implementation

Design and analysis of compact CPW-FED multiband antennas incorporating UWB applications

Over the past decade, there is a great demand for permission to transmit large bandwidth concurrent with existing narrowband signals. In 2002, the federal communications commission (FCC) decided to permit use of ultrawideband (UWB) systems. UWB systems are unique in their large instantaneous bandwidth and potential for lowcost digital design that enables a single system to operate in different modes as a communication device, radar etc. UWB systems aim at covering the frequency band of 3.1-10.6 GHz defined by the FCC. The addition of more and more features in each new generation communication system demands universal antennas suitable for operation in multiple bands. In this regard, designing a multiband antenna which also covers the UWB range without deteriorating the UWB performance is of great interest. Also, a significant issue in communication systems is to miniaturize the antenna size while providing good performance over the operation bands. The thesis presents three different designs of CPW-fed multiband antennas. The first design uses a fractal concept to achieve multiband operation. In the second and third designs, a slotted circular monopole and a spiral monopole are used respectively for multiband operation with UWB applications. For both these cases, variations from the basic antenna geometry are also proposed in which the frequency of operation is lowered without increase in overall antenna size. Design guidelines are developed for all antennas to facilitate design on substrates of different permittivity and thickness. The antennas are analyzed in both frequency and time domain for complete characterizatio

Potential Ornamental Plants and their Contribution to the Domestic Gardens and Landscape

The present study identified 146 species belonging to 129 genera in 63 families withpotential pretty ornamental value from Gudalur Taluk of Nilgiri district, Tamil Nadu. Theresults indicated that Gudalur Taluk of Nilgiri district had abundance of wild ornamentalplants which exhibits wide range of diversity in terms of taxa, habit and growth forms

Compact Dual Band Antenna for GSM1800/1900/ UMTS/ LTE/ UWB

AbstractIn this paper, a UWB antenna with added lower band is presented. The proposed antenna is planar and its low profile makes it suitable for wireless applications. The design achieves good input impedance match from 1.8 - 11GHz making it suitable for Global System for Mobile communication (GSM 1800/1900: 1.71- 1.88GHz /1.85-1.99GHz), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS: 1.92 - 2.17GHz), Long Term Evolution (LTE: 1.71 - 2.61GHz) and Ultra Wide Band (UWB: 3.1 - 10.6GHz) applications. The antenna is simulated using Ansys HFSS and CST microwave studio; fabrication is done using commercially available FR4 epoxy substrate of relative permittivity 4.4 and loss tangent 0.02.The overall antenna dimensions are 65mm x 50mm x 1.6mm

Retinal Ganglion Cell Dependant Retinal Perfusion After Acute Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes structural damage and functional impairment in the visual system. Up to 80% of patients with TBI complain of visual disturbance. Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) degeneration occurs even in the absence of visual symptoms and may serve as a non-invasive marker of TBI severity.(1,2) RGC neurodegeneration is associated with reduced retinal blood flow, however, the temporal relationship between retinal perfusion and RGC degeneration after acute TBI (whether reductions in blood flow precede or follow neurodegeneration) remains unknown. Aim was to evaluate the temporal relationship between RGC degeneration and retinal vascular perfusion after acute TBI