SUSPENSION POLICY FOR CLOUD-BASED VIRTUAL MACHINES

Techniques are described herein for obtaining usage metrics of Virtual Machines (VMs) over a number of days. This data may be used to automatically identify periodic (e.g., daily) blocks of time when groups of VMs can be suspended. Unlike typical scenarios in which VMs in a cloud-based environment stay up irrespective of whether the VM is being used, these techniques avoid unnecessary cost to the client

Bleached smear microscopy provides higher yield in diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the major deadliest communicable diseases throughout the world. Worldwide, 9.6 million people are estimated to have fallen ill with TB in 2014, India accounts for 23% of total global cases. The study evaluated the performance of direct sputum smear versus bleach concentration smear in diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis.Methods: Patients more than 10 years of age who presented with history of cough for >2 weeks duration were included. One spot specimen and another early morning specimen were collected on two consecutive days. All the sputum smears prepared from direct and bleach concentration were examined under microscope after Ziehl-Neelsen staining.Results: A total of 290 specimens were examined by microscopy, among which 128/290 (44.1%) were positive on direct smear, additionally 72/290 (24.8%) were positive on bleached smear, and therefore the gain% in the diagnostic yield was 24.8% (Pblood stained (26.74%) >purulent specimen (20.8%) (p>0.05) and early morning specimens (33%)>spot specimen (22%) (p>0.05), However, these findings were not statistically significant.Conclusion: Microscopic examination of bleached smear examination has shown a significant yield over conventional method in the detection of pulmonary Tuberculosis. Such superiority was independent of type of sputum and timing of collection of sputum

SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION, IN VITRO ANTIMICROBIAL, ANTHELMINTIC AND DOCKING STUDIES OF NEW 2-[(E)-{[4-(1H-1,2,4-TRIAZOL-1 YLMETHYL)PHENYL]IMINO} METHYL]PHENOL, AND THEIR COMPLEXES WITH 3D METAL IONS

Objective: The main objectives of this research work is the synthesis and characterization of biologically potential triazole ring containing the Schiff base legend and their transition metal complexes, followed by screenings of their antimicrobial and anthelmintic activity the results of antimicrobial activity were compared with docking scores.Methods: The coordination complexes of Co(II), Cu(II), Fe(III) and Zn(II) with Schiff base derived ligand 4-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-ylmethyl) aniline and substituted aldehydes have been synthesized. The complexes are characterized by elemental analysis, conductivity measurements, electronic, IR, and 1H NMR spectral data. The synthesized compounds were also screened In vitro antimicrobial activity was carried out according to diffusion method by using agar and potato dextrose agar at 100, 500 and 700 mg/ml concentrations in DMF. HEX 8.0 programmers were used to perform the docking experiments on nucleotide of S. typhi at as ligand [PDB: 3B6O].Results: Schiff base ligand and their transition metal complexes were studied for antimicrobial activity as well as docking. The results of both studies concluded that 4a, 4c and 4d compounds are more active in minimum inhibition concentration (30μg/ml) against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Salmonella typhi (S. typlei) bacteria and Penicillium chrysogenum (P. Crysogenum) fungi. The compounds showed highest docking score (-257.47,-275.61 and-280.17 respectively) with the secondary structure of the alpha-amylase with a nucleotide from s. typhi in the solid model. In the study of anthelmintic activity among these three compounds, 4d compound exhibits more activity compared with the standard.Conclusion: The compounds 4a, 4c and 4d were found to be more promising pharmacological activity this observation may promote a further development of this triazole group of compounds which may lead to better pharmacological profile than standard drugs. Â

Surgical site infections in orthopaedic surgeries: incidence and risk factors at tertiary care hospital of South India

Background: Health care associated infections (HAI) are infections that patients acquire while receiving medical care and are one of the most adverse events during health care delivery. Among the HAI surgical site infections [SSI] ranks the second among surgery patients. The present study aims to identify the risk factors, incidence and also to set the strategies required to prevent the development of SSI in orthopaedic surgeries primarily.Methods: A one year prospective study was conducted with a follow up of cases for one year post surgery in orthopaedic department. Cases that had undergone surgery were followed for development of SSI with a detailed demographic history, risk factor details after ethical committee approval. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package Social Sciences software 16 package (Chicago, USA).Results: The incidence of SSI was 6.5% with males 61% and females 39% with mean age of 34.12±8.01 years. In our present significant statistical correlation was observed with SSI and associated risk factors which include, Increased age, BMI >25, administration of prophylactic antibiotic’s, multiple fractures (>2 in number), contaminated wound, presence of drain at surgical site and blood transfusion. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus was the most common isolated pathogen (48.4%).Conclusions: The occurrence of SSI was higher in orthopaedic surgery than general surgeries. So our study clearly indicates that increased age, increased duration of surgery, increased hospitalization post-surgery, placement of drain at surgical site and blood transfusion are significant risk factors in development of SSI in orthopaedic surgeries

Bacterial and fungal agents causing lower respiratory tract infections in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection

Background: HIV the causative agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was considered a global problem after its discovery in 1981. Lower respiratory infections are 25 fold more common in HIV cases, than in the general community, occurring in up to 90 cases per 1000 person–years. The present study was conducted to determine the regional profile of respiratory pathogens including opportunistic implicated in lower respiratory tract infections in HIV cases.Methods: 200 HIV patients diagnosed with lower respiratory infection were enrolled as subjects. Expectorated, induced sputum and Broncho alveolar lavage were processed and bacterial and fungal pathogens were identified as per standard guidelines.Results: M. tuberculosis was the common pathogen (44.08%), followed by bacterial (21.71%) which include predominant Gram negative bacteria. Candida sp was the common fungal pathogen (16.45%) followed by Aspergillus sp (12.83%), Cryptococcus sp (1.97%). Most important observation of the study was isolation of nine cases of Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia.Conclusions: Bacterial and fungal agents form the main cause of lower respiratory infections in HIV individuals. Most of them are polymicrobial and an increasing trend of pneumocystis pneumonia is observed.

Cognitive model for object detection based on speech-to-text conversion.

The goal of this paper is to develop a model which is the integrated version of both SpeechRecognition and Object detection. This model is developed after undergoing the literature survey and the existing models that are related to Object Detection and Speech Recognition. There are several types of Speech Recognition and Object Detection models available so far. In addition to the existing models, this paper proposes a new model named "Cognitive Model for Object Detection based on Speech-to-Text Conversion, "which is an integrated version of both Speech Recognition and Object Detection models. Firstly, A speech command is provided as an input to the model, it takes the command and processes the data, and then it detects the specified object from a source of images. The detected object is represented with a rectangular box. This approach is implemented with the help of Google Speech Recognition and YOLO object detection models utilizing the Darknet and OpenCV frameworks

Factors affecting sputum and culture conversion in pulmonary tuberculosis patients on directly observed treatment, short-course

Background: Sputum smear positive patients are infectious for a variable period after starting of treatment. Patients receiving anti-tuberculosis treatment by DOTS become noninfectious and times taken to become non-infectious are assessed by sputum smear conversion (SSC) by smear microscopy and culture conversion by growth on Lowenstein-Jensen medium. The aim of present study was to determine the time taken for SSC and culture conversion and factors delaying it.Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was undertaken in a tertiary hospital over a period of one year from January 2015 to December 2015 by Department of Respiratory medicine. 150 patients diagnosed as pulmonary tuberculosis by sputum smear microscopy and on DOTS were included and followed at regular intervals of 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th and 20th week or until they were sputum and culture negative which was earlier. At each follow-up sputum, smear and culture were done as per standard guidelines.Results: 150 patients were enrolled which included 63 (42%) males and 87 (58%) females with mean age of 36.41 years and all were followed up. Fever was the most common clinical symptom (98.67%). 146 patients (97.33%) underwent sputum and culture conversion. The median time taken for sputum conversion for cases in the study was by the end of 4th week [day 28] and culture conversion was by end of 5th week [day 35]. 4 cases were positive for sputum and culture which were seropositive for HIV.Conclusions: Smear-positive patients are infectious to close contacts and to the community. Hence initiation of infection control measures should be applied until the patient is non-infectious. The results of our study reveal that patients of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis continue to expel the bacilli for a considerable period of time after initiation of DOTS regimen. There is a strong need to reinforce infection control measures until the patients are judged noninfectious

Synthesis, Characterization and Catalytic Activity of Ligand Stabilized Palladium Nanoparticle: A Catalyst Compliment to the Heck Coupling Reaction

The palladium metal is the most frequently used metal because of its excellent catalytic efficiency and most flexible varying oxidation state. So,  we report  that palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) stabilized by a ligand (o-vanilindiphenylethanedionedihydrazone, L)  using reverse micelles method have been synthesized, while all particles are in spherical shape and ranging between 10 and 15 nm. This has been characterized by 1H NMR, IR, UV, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses. These nanoparticles were used as a catalyst for coupling reaction between aryl halides with terminal alkenes, Heck reaction, in the presence of potassium carbonate (K2CO3) as a base and NMP (N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone) as a solvent.  The present catalyst is an air and moisture stable and has significant catalytic activity in Heck cross-coupling reactions under operating conditions. Various aryl halides and terminal alkenes were coupled smoothly under air to afford the corresponding cross-coupled products in excellent yields