Detection of Four Novel Polymorphisms in PrP gene of Pakistani sheep (Damani and Hashtnagri) and goats (Kamori and Local Hairy) breeds

Scrapie is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder of sheep and goats caused by post-translational conformational change in the host-encoded prion protein (PrPC). Susceptibility or resistance to scrapie has been associated with the presence of polymorphisms in the prion protein (PrP) gene. In the present study, we analyzed the PrP gene sequence to determine the frequency of polymorphisms in 56 sheep (28 each from Damani and Hashtnagri breeds) and 56 goats (28 each from Kamori and Local Hairy breeds). A total of 7 amino acid polymorphisms were detected in the PrP gene for sheep and 4 for goats. These amino acid polymorphisms were combined in 13 alleles and 15 genotypes in sheep and 5 alleles and 6 genotypes in goats. The overall frequency of the most sheep scrapie-resistant polymorphism (Q171R) was calculated to be 0.107. The most scrapie-susceptible polymorphism (A136V) was not detected in any of the studied sheep. The overall frequency of scrapie-associated polymorphism (H143R) in goats was found to be 0.152. Along with already known amino acid polymorphisms, two novel polymorphisms were also detected for each of sheep (Q171N and T191I) and goats (G22C and P63L). However, the overall frequency of these polymorphisms was extremely low

Management of the Triple Negative Locally Advanced Breast Cancer

One out of eight women is suffering from the breast cancer. 2.3 million New cases is predicted by 2023 worldwide. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is having 10–15% incidence. As categorized with the lack of estrogen, progesterone and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 neu receptor expression. Though it presents with narrow management opportunities that makes it to be the poor prognostic as well as survival rate. The management of the TNBC includes: neoadjuvant treatment then surgery and the adjuvant treatment or the surgery as the first step and then the adjuvant treatment options accordingly. The discussion are still going on to set a management protocol for the triple negative breast cancers with positive outcome and the good disease free survival. Neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy decreases the estradiol levels and thus improves the survival. The immune check points and immune modulators are under the research and the trials are still going on to treat the TNBC with the improved outcomes. It has been concluded that the management of the TNBC, still wanting the guidelines as tumor-specific targeted therapies is in trials

Colorization and Automated Segmentation of Human T2 MR Brain Images for Characterization of Soft Tissues

Characterization of tissues like brain by using magnetic resonance (MR) images and colorization of the gray scale image has been reported in the literature, along with the advantages and drawbacks. Here, we present two independent methods; (i) a novel colorization method to underscore the variability in brain MR images, indicative of the underlying physical density of bio tissue, (ii) a segmentation method (both hard and soft segmentation) to characterize gray brain MR images. The segmented images are then transformed into color using the above-mentioned colorization method, yielding promising results for manual tracing. Our color transformation incorporates the voxel classification by matching the luminance of voxels of the source MR image and provided color image by measuring the distance between them. The segmentation method is based on single-phase clustering for 2D and 3D image segmentation with a new auto centroid selection method, which divides the image into three distinct regions (gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) using prior anatomical knowledge). Results have been successfully validated on human T2-weighted (T2) brain MR images. The proposed method can be potentially applied to gray-scale images from other imaging modalities, in bringing out additional diagnostic tissue information contained in the colorized image processing approach as described

MICROBENDING LOSSES IN MULTIMODE OPTICAL FIBERS

Microbending losses of optical fiber have been studied for different amplitude and shape of the deformer.Experimental results show that grooves of angle 60 Degree cause more losses as compared to the grooves 90 degree. Intensity modulation induced by microbends is considered as transudation mechanism for detecting environmental changes such as pressure, temperature, acceleration and magnetic & electric fields. An accelerometer has been designed On this principle and tested up to the acceleration of 65g

Prevention and control of Coronavirus Epidemic: Role of clinical awareness and flow of accurate information: Coronavirus Prevention

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Underwater characterizations of monolithic piezoceramic and 1–3 composite using a self-designed transducer

Underwater characterizations of (Pb0.94Sr0.04)(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PZT) and PZT/araldite-F 1–3 composite were carried out through a self-designed transducer. Disc-shaped samples of bulk PZT and PZT/araldite-F composite were first characterized in air and then were assembled in the transducer individually. The transducer’s underwater voltage receiving sensitivity (Sh) and transmitting voltage response (Sv) were investigated in the frequency range of 10–200 kHz (well below thickness mode resonance) using a calibrated projector and receiver method with pulse technique. Results revealed that the transducer made with composite sample exhibited better (Sh) values (−214 dB ref 1 V/µPa) due to ~295% higher piezoelectric voltage coefficient gh (30 × 10−3 Vm/N) of the composite compared to PZT. In addition, the transducer with the PZT sample showed better Sv values (80 dB ref 1 µPa/1 V at 1 m) due to the presence of planar mode peaks in the frequency range of 10–200 kHz. These results indicate that the monolithic piezoceramic can exhibit underwater Sv response in both planar and thickness resonance modes owing to the admittance peaks in these frequency regions

On the Structural Analysis of γ-Ray Induced Primary Free Radicals in UHMWPE and Vitamin E Stabilized UHMWPE by ESR Spectroscopy

Oriented allyl radicals are detected at room temperature in gamma irradiated UHMWPE. The effects of vitamin E and storage at room temperature on this oriented structure are also investigated during the study. While testing powder as well as compression-molded solids, with or without vitamin E, a typical ESR spectrum was recorded at room temperature following 100 kGy gamma dose and subsequent storage at −78.5°C for one year. The simulated results show that the relative abundance of 5% alkyl, 68% allyl, and 27% polyenyl produced a 98.7% best fit of experimental ones. Furthermore, the allyl radical signal gives approximately 20% of random orientations and 80% of oriented molecules. In oriented PE, measured at −196°C, Ohnishi et al. (1916) observed 25 lines within a total magnetic field width of approximately 133 G. Our spectra also show 25 lines spread over 136 G in UHMWPE powder samples and at room temperature after one year of storage