Influence of rearrangement of actin cytoskeleton on the overall material properties of ATDC5 cells during chondrogenesis

Studies show that when chondrocytes are cultured in 2D, they lose their phenotype. This change is reversed when the cells are embedded in a 3D culture system such as in agarose gel. Previous experiments in our lab showed that when prechodrocytic cells were embedded in agarose, chondrogenesis was triggered in these cells. This work attempts to understand the mechanical implications of this behavior. It also provides an estimate of the sensitivity of the apparatus that would be required to carry out compression loading experiments of gel-cell constructs that can distinguish between pre-chondrocytes and chondrocytes.;ATDC5 cells were cultured in 3D for 12 days and fluorescent images of the actin cytoskeletal structure of the cells were obtained. A major reorientation of the cytoskeletal structure (from stress-fiber to punctate appearance) was observed. This data was then used to construct a Finite Element model of cell. The cell was considered as a composite matrix and the actin as the embedded fibers. Radial deformations of the cell (difference in the corresponding undeformed and deformed radii of the cell at a particular angle w.r.t. loading axis) were calculated for 5 sets of experimental data. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Nanoencapsulation of Pesticides: Sustainable Perspective in Agriculture

The concern towards the increasing challenges of sustainable agriculture made the researchers towards significant technological development and innovations in recent years. In particular, Nanotechnology offers potential solutions to improve agricultural production assuring sustainability. The incorporation of nanotechnology as a means of nano pesticides delivers the pesticides appropriately i.e., targeted delivery of pesticides by lowering the indiscriminate use of conventional pesticides. The assets of a nanoencapsulated pesticide formulation are controlled releasing properties with enhanced solubility, specificity, permeability and stability. They provide in-built switches to control the release and subsequent availability of pesticides to be used effectively over a given period of time and their design enables them to resist the severe environmental processes such as leaching, evaporation, photolytic hydrolytic and microbial degradation over conventional pesticides. This review provides fundamental information to critically assess the significant role of nanotechnology for the encapsulation of pesticides. © 2020 Author(s)

Sound Localization using VHDL

Sound localization based on listener's potential to address the location or source of a located sound in orientation and distance. Rather than detecting what has been spoken, the work concerns about the detection of where the sound comes from. Speech enhancement aims to improve speech quality by using various algorithms. The purpose of enhancement is to increase user-friendliness and overall excellence of degraded speech signal using audio signal filtering techniques. The better speech quality improves by sign-error LMS algorithm. FPGAs have become a competitive alternative for high performance DSP applications, previously dominated by general purpose DSP and ASIC devices. The FPGA is useful for many multimedia applications and functional systems. The FPGA can be programmed to perform any number of parallel paths

Distribution of Capillary Transit Times in Isolated Lungs of Oxygen-Tolerant Rats

Rats pre-exposed to 85% O2 for 5–7 days tolerate the otherwise lethal effects of 100% O2. The objective was to evaluate the effect of rat exposure to 85% O2 for 7 days on lung capillary mean transit time (t¯c) and distribution of capillary transit times (h c(t)). This information is important for subsequent evaluation of the effect of this hyperoxia model on the redox metabolic functions of the pulmonary capillary endothelium. The venous concentration vs. time outflow curves of fluorescein isothiocyanate labeled dextran (FITC-dex), an intravascular indicator, and coenzyme Q1 hydroquinone (CoQ1H2), a compound which rapidly equilibrates between blood and tissue on passage through the pulmonary circulation, were measured following their bolus injection into the pulmonary artery of isolated perfused lungs from rats exposed to room air (normoxic) or 85% O2 for 7 days (hyperoxic). The moments (mean transit time and variance) of the measured FITC-dex and CoQ1H2 outflow curves were determined for each lung, and were then used in a mathematical model [Audi et al. J. Appl. Physiol. 77: 332–351, 1994] to estimate t¯c and the relative dispersion (RDc) of h c(t). Data analysis reveals that exposure to hyperoxia decreases lung t¯c by 42% and increases RDc, a measure h c(t) heterogeneity, by 40%

A Survey on Secure Block Storage and Access Control Using Big Data Environment

Over past few years, the amount of data being collected continuous to grow more and more companies are building Big Data repositories to store , aggregate and extract meaning from this data and securing Big Data comes main challenge. This paper presents the comparison of different encryption based algorithms i.e. Key Management for Access Control , Attribute-Based Access Control, Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE), Key Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (KP-ABE), Cipher text -Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE) and cryptography for security and access control, its real time applications. This comparison results cannot provide flexibility and efficiency for data analysis. The future scope of this survey on big data can be discussed by using access control algorithm

Effectiveness of Resistance Training on the Strength of Scapulo-humeral Muscles and Abdominals in Male Volley Ball Players

Background: Volleyball is a sportive modality that requires strength in the upper and lower extremities along with the trunk musculature. The improvement of muscular strength is very important along with agility and flexibility for a volleyball player. Aim of the study to find the effectiveness of resistance training on the strength of scapulo-humeral muscles and abdominals in male volley ball players. Objectives of this study is find out the effect of resistance training on the strength of the scapulo-humeral muscles by measuring peak torque by using an isokinetic dynamometer and to find out the effect of resistance training on strength of abdominals through 1RM test. Methods: A group of 30 male volleyball players who have fulfilled the inclusion criteria were assigned into two groups control and experimental groups each consisting of 15 subjects. The subjects of the experimental group underwent resistance training under my supervision and the subjects of the control group done the same protocol unsupervised for 6 weeks. Results: There was significant improvement in the strength of scapula-humeral muscles and abdominals in the experimental group when compared to the control group when the pre and post intervention values were measured (p=0.05). Conclusion: Resistance training under supervision of the therapist resulted in significant improvement in strength of the scapulo-humeral muscles and abdominals in the male volleyball players

Assessment of Knee Joint Proprioception in Weight Bearing and in Non-Weight Bearing Positions in Normal Subjects

Background: Assessment of proprioception isvaluable for identifying proprioceptive deficits.There are several methods to assess the prop-rioception. Joint position sense can be assessedin weight bearing (WB) and non weight bearing(NWB) position of the limb whose joint is tobe tested. Aim and Objectives: To find out thedifference in joint position sense in NWB andin WB positions in normal subjects. Materialand Methods: 40 normal healthy subjects be-tween the age group of 20 to 25 years were se-lected. Subjects with recent lower limb trauma,pain and musculoskeletal deformity involvingknee and ankle were excluded. Right knee jointproprioception at 300 knee flexion was mea-sured using non weight bearing and weight bear-ing methods by active test with epsilateral ac-tive limb matching response. The knee joint po-sition sense was measured by universal Goni-ometer. Average of 3 response angle was takenas the final reading. Two assessment procedureswere compared with Mann-Whitney Test. Po-sition sense accuracy was measured as a rela-tive error. The relative error was calculated asan arithmetic difference between test and re-sponse positions. A measure of variability ofindividual observation was calculated by SD andcoefficient of variation Results: Present studyshows that there is a significant difference intwo assessment procedures while testing jointproprioception (P <0.005). The mean of WBmethod [31.970] is relatively higher when com-pared with NWB procedure [30.420] but lessinter-observation variability in terms of coef-ficient of variation is seen in WB position. Inthe present study relative error in WB position(-1.8650) is more as compared to NWB posi-tion (-0.2630), and the difference is statisticallysignificant (p<0.005). Conclusion: There isstatistically significant difference between thetwo assessment procedures. Average relativeerror of WB position is more as compared toNWB position. WB procedure produced morenegative relative error i.e. Response was under-estimated during WB testing of proprioception

Pattern of tuberculosis among tribal population of Central India with special reference to cartridge based nucleic acid amplification test as diagnostic tool: a descriptive study at tertiary care hospital

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) kills close to half a million Indians every year. Lack of reliable rapid diagnostic techniques for TB hampers timely diagnosis and leads to continued disease transmission, causing significant morbidity and mortality. The potential of newly recommended CBNAAT in TB and MDR-TB detection has been underutilized in our area due to lack of awareness regarding the same. Hence we utilized this rapid, logistically simplified test to study the pattern of tuberculosis among tribal population of Central India.Methods: Descriptive study of suspected TB patients in tertiary care centre from March 2016 to March 2019. Appropriate specimens from suspected TB patients were collected and subjected to CBNAAT and AFB smear to study the pattern of TB and Rifampicin- Resistant(RR) TB  in our area.Results: CBNAAT detected overall 27% MTB cases; 27.72 % Pulmonary-TB cases as against smear positivity rate of 20.73% whereas 12.74% Extra-pulmonary-TB (EPTB) cases as against smear positivity rate of 1.59%.Overall 94.91% were RiF Sensitive( RS-TB) and 4.58% were RR-TB. Of the 57 (4.16%) HIV-TB coinfected cases; 96.49% were RS-TB and 5.26% were RR-TB. Co-infected patients have high incidence of EPTB(21.05%) involvement  with RR-TB 3.50%. Among EPTB cases; lymph node aspirate and pus provided highest CBNAAT positive cases and almost 90.62% EPTB specimens were RS-TB .Conclusions: Availability of new diagnostic services has increased early identification of TB and RR-TB. Awareness among physicians regarding diagnostic utility of CBNAAT should be further increased as early identification of possible MDR cases is key to reducing community transmission and treatment initiation, particularly in high-burden, resource-limited settings. 

Nanoencapsulation of pesticides: Sustainable perspective in agriculture

The concern towards the increasing challenges of sustainable agriculture made the researchers towards significant technological development and innovations in recent years. In particular, Nanotechnology offers potential solutions to improve agricultural production assuring sustainability. The incorporation of nanotechnology as a means of nano pesticides delivers the pesticides appropriately i.e., targeted delivery of pesticides by lowering the indiscriminate use of conventional pesticides. The assets of a nanoencapsulated pesticide formulation are controlled releasing properties with enhanced solubility, specificity, permeability and stability. They provide in-built switches to control the release and subsequent availability of pesticides to be used effectively over a given period of time and their design enables them to resist the severe environmental processes such as leaching, evaporation, photolytic hydrolytic and microbial degradation over conventional pesticides. This review provides fundamental information to critically assess the significant role of nanotechnology for the encapsulation of pesticides. © 2020 Author(s)

Effect of Various Plant Extracts on Dry Root Rot of Chillies Caused by Sclerotium rolfsii

Eight different plant extracts were evaluated&nbsp;in vitro&nbsp;against&nbsp;Sclerotium rolfsii&nbsp;causing dry root rot in chillies. Among these, leaf extract of neem (Azadirachta indica)&nbsp;caused maximum inhibition of mycelial growth (80.74%), followed by periwinkle&nbsp;Vinca rosea&nbsp;(78.8%) and bottlebrush (Callistemon, 74.8%) respectively. Sclerotial production was inhibited to an extent of 11% and the inhibition caused was maximum with neem extract, followed by&nbsp;Polyalthia longifolia&nbsp;and&nbsp;V. rosea&nbsp;extracts. Though sclerotial germination was inhibited by 30% to 95% in various treatments, the most effective treatment was that of neem leaf extract (95%), followed by ginger extract (92%)