Design of flexible spot welding cell for Body-In-White (BIW) assembly

In this paper, a flexible spot welding cell - which is flexible both at fixture and work cell level is developed to handle multiple Body-In-White (BIW) part varieties. The work-cell is a human-robot cooperative cell where the operator loads/unloads the parts on one side, whereas the robot concurrently performs welding operation on other side. The fixture is made modular and is reconfigured for change in part varieties. The flexibility of proposed work cell and fixture are investigated and validated by considering two different BIW spot weld assemblies. The performance of robot, cycle time estimation for the process, checking of fixtures, collision detection between weld gun and fixtures are evaluated in virtual environment. The flexible weld cell is proved to be compatible for both the BIW assemblies considered for study. The proposed concept shorten the design & fabrication time of fixture - squeezing the investment cost, assembly cost and floor space; besides reducing the cycle time and improving the robot utilization by 30% - 40% when compared to the conventional method

Microsurgical Treatment of Sporadic and von Hippel-Lindau Disease Associated Spinal Hemangioblastomas: A Single-Institution Experience

Study DesignRetrospective cohort study.PurposeTo examine the clinical profile and surgical complications in patients with spinal hemangioblastomas and to evaluate the long-term outcome in them.Overview of LiteratureAlthough considered to be histologically benign, hemangioblastomas may cause significant neurological deficits. The proportion of spinal hemangioblastomas associated with von Hippel–Lindau (VHL) disease has been estimated be 13%–59%. Preoperative neurological function correlates with postoperative neurological status. Studies have shown no difference in outcomes between sporadic and VHL-associated spinal hemangioblastomas.MethodsThis retrospective study included 14 consecutive patients treated for spinal hemangioblastomas at our institute between January 2000 and June 2013. The mean follow-up period was 5 years. Magnetic resonance imaging of the complete neuraxis was performed in all cases, and preoperative embolization was performed in two cases.ResultsIn total, 14 patients underwent 18 surgeries, of which 15 were for spinal hemangioblastomas. Of all the patients, 86% had motor weakness and 79% presented with sensory disturbances. Preoperative McCormick functional grades were grade I in 7 (50%), grade II in 3 (21%), and grade III in 4 (29%) patients; 50% patients were diagnosed with VHL disease. All patients underwent complete resection of the tumor. Eight patients experienced deterioration in their neurological status in the immediate postoperative period; among them, five had gradual improvement. At 5-year follow-up, 11 (78.57%) patients showed good functional outcomes.ConclusionsMicrosurgical excision of spinal hemangioblastomas can cause postoperative morbidity, mainly in the form of neurological deterioration. Almost half of our patients had deterioration in the McCormick grade in the immediate postoperative period. However, a complete microsurgical excision can result in good long-term functional outcomes, as most of the immediate postoperative neurological deterioration in our patients was reversible. There was no difference in the long-term functional outcomes between sporadic and VHL-associated spinal hemangioblastomas

Unraveling the association between cotton leafhopper Amrasca (Amrasca) biguttula and leaf morphological traits through stereo microscope and FESEM analysis

Present study was carried out during rainy (kharif) season of 2022 and summer season of 2023 at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to identify cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) genotypes with enhanced morphological traits to resist leafhopper [Amrasca (Amrasca) biguttula (Shiraki, 1912)] infestations. To achieve this, 5 distinct genotypes were selected as parents, generating 10 F1 hybrids using the half-diallel method. Field and polyhouse experiments were conducted over a 30–120 days-interval. Genotypes, environments, and their interactions (G × E) played a significant role in confirming resistance. Infestation levels varied throughout growth stages, with the highest at 60 DAS (days after sowing). Microscopy analysis revealed glandular trichomes (GTs) and more single-celled non- GTs (NGTs) with complex dendritic branches (2–8) on primary stem leaves. Negative correlations of trichome density, trichome length and gossypol glands with leafhopper populations in both environments suggested a deterrent role. Conversely, leaf thickness positively associated, indicating potential pest preference. Stepwise regression highlighted combination of morphological traits, significantly contributed to greater leafhopper resistance, rather than a single factor. These findings provide valuable insights for selecting and breeding resistant cotton genotypes against leafhoppers

Selective single blastocyst transfer study: 604 cases in 6 years

Aim : To evaluate the credibility of single blastocyst transfer (SBT) method in selected group of patients. Settings and Design : Retrospective analysis of SBT cases based on computerized data in a private Fertility research centre. Materials and Methods : A total of 604 cases of SBTs, done during June 2000 to June 2006, have been analyzed retrospectively to assess the credibility of the method as a method of choice in selective high fertile group of patients. Women between 28 and 42 years have been included in the retrospective analysis, who had adequate number of eggs for fertilization, between 6 and 12. Results and Conclusions : Grade I blastocyst transfer resulted in 46.6% of clinical pregnancy and grade II blastocyst transfer resulted in 17.4% of clinical pregnancy rates. Overall pregnancy rate was 64%. Pregnancy loss, as early and late fetal wastages, was 11.06%

Pyrrolidinium-2-carboxylate–4-nitrophenol (1/2)

In the title compound, C5H9NO2·2C6H5NO3, the pyrrolidine ring of the pyrrolidinium-2-carboxylate zwitterion adopts a twisted conformation on the –CH2—CH2– bond adjacent to the N atom. The mean plane of this pyrrolidine ring forms dihedral angles of 25.3 (3) and 32.1 (3)° with the two nitrophenol rings. An intramolecular N—H...O hydrogen bond occurs in the pyrrolidinium-2-carboxylate molecule. In the crystal, molecules are linked via O—H...O and N—H...O hydrogen bonds, enclosing R32(8) ring motifs, forming chains running parallel to the a axis. These chains are further cross-linked by O—H...O and C—H...O hydrogen bonds, forming undulating two-dimensional networks lying parallel to (001)

Androgen Receptor CAG Repeats Length Polymorphism and the Risk of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

<div><p>Objective</p><p>Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) refers to an inheritable androgen excess disorder characterized by multiple small follicles located at the ovarian periphery. Hyperandrogenism in PCOS, and inverse correlation between androgen receptor (AR) CAG numbers and AR function, led us to hypothesize that CAG length variations may affect PCOS risk.</p><p>Methods</p><p>CAG repeat region of 169 patients recruited following strictly defined Rotterdam (2003) inclusion criteria and that of 175 ethnically similar control samples, were analyzed. We also conducted a meta-analysis on the data taken from published studies, to generate a pooled estimate on 2194 cases and 2242 controls.</p><p>Results</p><p>CAG bi-allelic mean length was between 8.5 and 24.5 (mean = 17.43, SD = 2.43) repeats in the controls and between 11 and 24 (mean = 17.39, SD = 2.29) repeats in the cases, without any significant difference between the two groups. Further, comparison of bi-allelic mean and its frequency distribution in three categories (short, moderate and long alleles) did not show any significant difference between controls and various case subgroups. Frequency distribution of bi-allelic mean in two categories (extreme and moderate alleles) showed over-representation of extreme sized alleles in the cases with marginally significant value (50.3% vs. 61.5%, χ² = 4.41; P = 0.036), which turned insignificant upon applying Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. X-chromosome inactivation analysis showed no significant difference in the inactivation pattern of CAG alleles or in the comparison of weighed bi-allelic mean between cases and controls. Meta-analysis also showed no significant correlation between CAG length and PCOS risk, except a minor over-representation of short CAG alleles in the cases.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>CAG bi-allelic mean length did not differ between controls and cases/case sub-groups nor did the allele distribution. Over-representation of short/extreme-sized alleles in the cases may be a chance finding without any true association with PCOS risk.</p></div