Variable - temperature scanning optical and force microscope

The implementation of a scanning microscope capable of working in confocal, atomic force and apertureless near field configurations is presented. The microscope is designed to operate in the temperature range 4 - 300 K, using conventional helium flow cryostats. In AFM mode, the distance between the sample and an etched tungsten tip is controlled by a self - sensing piezoelectric tuning fork. The vertical position of both the AFM head and microscope objective can be accurately controlled using piezoelectric coarse approach motors. The scanning is performed using a compact XYZ stage, while the AFM and optical head are kept fixed, allowing scanning probe and optical measurements to be acquired simultaneously and in concert. The free optical axis of the microscope enables both reflection and transmission experiments to be performed.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, submitted to the journal "Review of Scientific Instruments

Response of Two Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus L.) Genotypes to Va-mycorrhizal Inoculation and Phosphorus Levels

The performance of two sunflower genotypes (Morden and MSFH-8) with and without VA-mycorrhizal fungi at three P levels (38, 56 and 75 kg P2O5 ha-1) in vertisol of Dharwad was studied to determine the effect of mycorrhizal inoculation on plant growth, yield and P uptake. The results showed that the VAM inoculation increased sunflower yield (14%), total biomass (16%), oil content (3.1%) and P uptake (30.5%) over uninoculated control. The percent root colonization and chlamydo-spore count decreased with increasing P levels. The total biomass production, seed yield and P uptake of mycorrhizal plants at 38 kg P2O5 ha-1 more than the non-mycorrhizal plants at 75 kg P2O5 ha-1. The biomass and seed yield of mycorrhizal plants at same P level were more than the non-mycorrhizal plants. Mycorrhizal plants of Morden at 38 kg P2O5 ha-1 and MSFH-8 at 56 kg P2O5 ha-1 produced higher seed yield, oil content and total biomass than non-mycorrhizal plants supplied with 75 kg P2O5 ha-1. The results indicated that, VA-mycorrhizal inoculation helps in saving 25 and 50 percent of recommended dose of phosphatic fertilizer (75 kg P2O5 ha-1) in MSFH-8 (single cross hybrid) and Morden (open pollinated variety), respectively

Review of code blue system and audit

Background: Code Blue systems are communication systems that ensure the most rapid and effective resuscitation of a patient in respiratory or cardiac arrest. Code blue was established in Bharati Hospital and Research Centre in Sept 2011 in order to reduce morbidity and mortality in wards. The aim of the study was to evaluate the current code blue system and suggest possible interventions to strengthen the system.Methods: It was retrospective observational descriptive study. The study population included all consecutive patients above the age of 18 years for whom code blue had been activated. Data was collected using code blue audit forms. The data was analysed using SPSS (Statistical Package for social sciences) software.Results: A total of 260 calls were made using the blue code system between September 2011 to December 2012. The most common place for blue code activation was casualty. The wards were next, followed by dialysis unit and OPD. The indications for code blue team activation were cardio-respiratory arrest (CRA) (88 patients, 33.84%), change in mental status (52 patients, 20%), road traffic accidents RTA (21, 8.07%), convulsions (29 patients 11.15%), chest pain (19 patients, 8.46%), breathlessness (18 patients,6.92%) and worry of staff about the patient (17 patients, 6.53%), presyncope (10 patients, 3.84%), and others (6 patients, 2.30%). The average response time was 1.58±0.96 minutes in our study. Survival rate was more in medical emergency group 46.15% than in CRA group 31.61%. Initial success rate was 35.2% and a final success rate was 34.6%.Conclusions: Establishment of code blue team in the hospital enabled us to provide timely resuscitation for patients who had “out of ICU” CRA. Further study is needed to establish the overall effectiveness and the optimal implementation of code blue teams. The increasing use of an existing service to review patients meeting blue code criteria requires repeated education and a periodic assessment of site-specific obstacles to utilization

A Survey on Graph Database Management Techniques for Huge Unstructured Data

Data analysis, data management, and big data play a major role in both social and business perspective, in the last decade. Nowadays, the graph database is the hottest and trending research topic. A graph database is preferred to deal with the dynamic and complex relationships in connected data and offer better results. Every data element is represented as a node. For example, in social media site, a person is represented as a node, and its properties name, age, likes, and dislikes, etc and the nodes are connected with the relationships via edges. Use of graph database is expected to be beneficial in business, and social networking sites that generate huge unstructured data as that Big Data requires proper and efficient computational techniques to handle with. This paper reviews the existing graph data computational techniques and the research work, to offer the future research line up in graph database management

IN VITRO EVALUATION OF CYTOTOXIC AND GENOTOXIC EFFECTS OF PLANT EXTRACTS FROM NOTHAPODYTES FOETIDA (WIGHT) SLEUMER (FAMILY: ICACINACEAE)

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate cytotoxic and genotoxic properties of aqueous and methanolic extracts of the aerial parts of Nothapodytes foetida (Wight) Sleumer plant.Methods: The cytotoxic effects of aqueous and methanol extract of leaves and stem bark on cell viability of HeLa, MCF7, and HCT-15 cell lines was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide assay. We also confirmed the genotoxic effects of plant extracts through DNA fragmentation in cancer cells and expression pattern of apoptotic genes including p53 and caspase-3 analyzed by semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blotting techniques.Results: The present study revealed that, when plant extract was tested for cytotoxic activity, the data obtained from cell viability results of HeLa and MCF7 cells revealed that methanol extract of leaves and stem bark exhibited a range of significant cytotoxic activities in a dose-dependent manner varying from 2.5 to 25 μg/mL, whereas an aqueous extract of leaves and stem bark showed decreased cell viability with an increase in the concentration of both the extracts from 5 to 50 μg/mL.Conclusion: These results indicated that the crude extract aerial parts of N. foetida plant contain promising substances having a potential as cytotoxic agent

Effect of Foliar Sprays of NAA, Triacontanol and Boron on Growth and Seed Quality in Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia L.) Cv. Pusa Visesh

An investigation was undertaken to study the effect of foliar sprays of NAA, triacontanol and boron on vine growth, seed quality and storability in bitter gourd cv. Pusa Visesh. Results revealed that NAA at 50mg/l produced the longest vines (192.33 and 260.67cm), maximum leaf area (1.890 and 2.965cm2/vine), leaf area index (1.969 and 2.760) and leaf chlorophyll content (39.23 and 38.90 SPAD value) at 85 and 100 days after sowing (DAS), respectively. As for seed quality attributes, treatment with boron at 4mg/l recorded lowest seed moisture content and highest seed germination percentage (9.16% and 85.5%, respectively), followed by NAA at 50mg/l (9.21% and 85.25%, respectively) whereas, Control recorded highest seed moisture and lowest seed germination percentage (9.84% and 74.5%, respectively) recorded at the end of storage

Struktura radijalnih nultih geodetskih linija u Vaidya-ovom prostoru-vremenu s monopolima

The monopole-charged Vaidya model containing a naked singularity is analyzed for outgoing radial null geodesics. Using the Clarke and Krolak criteria, the curvature strength of naked singularity is examined to show that this is a strong curvature singularity, providing a counter example to cosmic censorship hypothesis (CCH). The graphs of the apparent horizons for different values of parameters have been drawn. An interesting feature which emerges is that, the monopole component pushes the apparent horizon towards the radial axis and thereby increases the radius of the apparent horizon in Vaidya collapse.Analiziraju se izlazne radijalne geodetske linije za Vaidya-ov model s monopolima koji sadrži golu singularnost. Primjenom Clarke-Krolakovih kriterija ispituje se jakost zakrivljenosti gole singularnosti kako bi se utvrdila jaka singularnost, što daje protuprimjer hipotezi o kozmičkoj cenzuri. Prikazuju se dijagrami prividnih horizonata za niz vrijednosti parametara. Zanimljivost ishoda računa jest da monopolna komponenta potiskuje prividni horizont prema radijalnoj osi i tako povećava polumjer prividnog horizonta u Vaidya-ovom urušavanju

Degravitation, Inflation and the Cosmological Constant as an Afterglow

In this report, we adopt the phenomenological approach of taking the degravitation paradigm seriously as a consistent modification of gravity in the IR, and investigate its consequences for various cosmological situations. We motivate degravitation-- where Netwon's constant is promoted to a scale dependent filter function-- as arising from either a small (resonant) mass for the graviton, or as an effect in semi-classical gravity. After addressing how the Bianchi identities are to be satisfied in such a set up, we turn our attention towards the cosmological consequences of degravitation. By considering the example filter function corresponding to a resonantly massive graviton (with a filter scale larger than the present horizon scale), we show that slow roll inflation, hybrid inflation and old inflation remain quantitatively unchanged. We also find that the degravitation mechanism inherits a memory of past energy densities in the present epoch in such a way that is likely significant for present cosmological evolution. For example, if the universe underwent inflation in the past due to it having tunneled out of some false vacuum, we find that degravitation implies a remnant `afterglow' cosmological constant, whose scale immediately afterwards is parametrically suppressed by the filter scale ($L$) in Planck units $\Lambda \sim l^2_{pl}/L^2$. We discuss circumstances through which this scenario reasonably yields the presently observed value for $\Lambda \sim O(10^{-120})$. We also find that in a universe still currently trapped in some false vacuum state, resonance graviton models of degravitation only degravitate initially Planck or GUT scale energy densities down to the presently observed value over timescales comparable to the filter scale.Comment: To appear in JCAP; sections discussing degravitation as a semi-classical effect and the modified Bianchi identities adde

Prediction of preterm labour by cervical length

Background: Preterm birth is one of the commonest causes of perinatal mortality. Cervical length is one of the major determinants of preterm delivery.Methods: This prospective observational study of 100 pregnant women attending ANC OPD was carried out at D.Y. Patil Hospital, Kolhapur. The pregnant women were scanned for cervical length between 11-14 weeks and 20-22 weeks of gestation, using USG machine with TVS probe (mindray DC-7).Results: The mean value of cervical length in pregnant women at 11-14 weeks was 3.94 cm and at 20-22 weeks of gestation it was 3.38 cm. There was shortening in the pregnant cervix from first to second trimester. In the study 12% of patients delivered prematurely who had reduction in cervical length from first trimester to second trimester. The inverse relation between the cervical length during pregnancy and frequency of preterm delivery was confirmed. The decrease in cervical length at 11-14 weeks of gestation and 20-22 weeks of gestation was useful for identifying patients at increased risk for pre-trerm.Conclusions: Our findings confirm those of previous studies that have found an inverse relation between the length of the cervix, as measured by transvaginal ultrasonography during pregnancy, and the frequency of preterm delivery. We found that the cervical length measured at 11-14 weeks and 20-22 weeks gestation was decreased in asymptomatic women with single to n pregnancies was useful for identifying patients at increased risk for preterm delivery