Thyroid dysfunction in Human immunodeficiency virus infected patients and their correlation with CD4 count

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of thyroid abnormalities in a subset of human immunodeficiency virus positive patients.Methods: This was a cross-sectional prevalence study conducted on adult HIV positive patients. The patients presenting with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease or thyroid disorder were excluded from the study. An exhaustive medical history and investigation using biochemical, microbiological and radiological tests were performed to confirm the diagnosis. Additionally, tests were done to determine the free T3, T4, thyroid stimulating hormone and CD4 cell count in all the patients.Results: The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in our study was 45.7%. Various types of thyroid dysfunctions obtained were euthyroid sick syndrome in 18.6%, subclinical hypothyroidism in 11.4%, secondary hypothyroidism in 10% and primary hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism each in 2.9% cases. As the stage of HIV advanced, there is alteration in the level of thyroid stimulating hormone, FT3 and FT4. A direct correlation was found between FT3 and CD4 counts but no correlation was found between thyroid stimulating hormone and FT4 levels and CD4 counts.Conclusions: A higher prevalence of thyroid dysfunction that was largely asymptomatic was observed in HIV infected patients with significant change in the hormonal levels in patients with low CD4 count. A direct correlation was observed between FT3 hormone level and CD4 count

IMC and IMC-Based PID Controler

Internal Model Control (IMC) is a commonly used technique that provides a transparent mode for the design and tuning of various types of control. The ability of proportional-integral (PI) and proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers to meet most of the control objectives has led to their widespread acceptance in the control industry. The Internal Model Control (IMC)-based approach for controller design is one of them using IMC and its equivalent IMC based PID to be used in control applications in industries. It is because, for practical applications or an actual process in industries PID controller algorithm is simple and robust to handle the model inaccuracies and hence using IMC-PID tuning method a clear trade-off between closed-loop performance and robustness to model inaccuracies is achieved with a single tuning parameter. Also the IMC-PID controller allows good set-point tracking but sulky disturbance response especially for the process with a small time-delay/time-constant ratio. But, for many process control applications, disturbance rejection for the unstable processes is much more important than set point tracking. Hence, controller design that emphasizes disturbance rejection rather than set point tracking is an important design problem that has to be taken into consideration. In this thesis, we propose an optimum IMC filter to design an IMC-PID controller for better set-point tracking of unstable processes. The proposed controller works for different values of the filter tuning parameters to achieve the desired response As the IMC approach is based on pole zero cancellation, methods which comprise IMC design principles result in a good set point responses. However, the IMC results in a long settling time for the load disturbances for lag dominant processes which are not desirable in the control industry. In our study we have taken several transfer functions for the model of the actual process or plant as we have exactly little or no knowledge of the actual process which incorporates within it the effect of model uncertainties and disturbances entering into the process. Also, the parameters of the physical system vary with operating conditions and time and hence, it is essential to design a control system that shows robust performance in the case of the above mentioned situations. Then we tried to tune our IMC controller for different values of the filter tuning factor. Since all the IMC-PID approaches involve some kind of model reduction techniques to convert the IMC controller to the PID controller so approximation error usually occurs. This error becomes severe for the process with time delay. For this we have taken some transfer functions with significant time delay or with non invertible portions i.e. containing RHP poles or the zeroes. Here we have used different techniques like factorization to get rid off these error containing stuffs. It is because if these errors are not removed then even if IMC filter gives best IMC performance but structurally causes a major error in conversion to the PID controller, then the resulting PID controller could have poor control performance. Thus in our approach to IMC and IMC based PID controller to be used in industrial process control applications, there exists the optimum filter structure for each specific process model to give the best PID performance. For a given filter structure, as λ decreases, the inconsistency between the ideal and the PID controller increases while the nominal IMC performance improves. It indicates that an optimum λ value also exist which compromises these two effects to give the best performance. Thus what we mean by the best filter structure is the filter that gives the best PID performance for the optimum λ value

Analysis of the unexplored features of rrs (16S rDNA) of the Genus Clostridium

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bacterial taxonomy and phylogeny based on <it>rrs </it>(16S rDNA) sequencing is being vigorously pursued. In fact, it has been stated that novel biological findings are driven by comparison and integration of massive data sets. In spite of a large reservoir of <it>rrs </it>sequencing data of 1,237,963 entries, this analysis invariably needs supplementation with other genes. The need is to divide the genetic variability within a taxa or genus at their <it>rrs </it>phylogenetic boundaries and to discover those fundamental features, which will enable the bacteria to naturally fall within them. Within the large bacterial community, <it>Clostridium </it>represents a large genus of around 110 species of significant biotechnological and medical importance. Certain <it>Clostridium </it>strains produce some of the deadliest toxins, which cause heavy economic losses. We have targeted this genus because of its high genetic diversity, which does not allow accurate typing with the available molecular methods.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Seven hundred sixty five <it>rrs </it>sequences (> 1200 nucleotides, nts) belonging to 110 <it>Clostridium </it>species were analyzed. On the basis of 404 <it>rrs </it>sequences belonging to 15 <it>Clostridium </it>species, we have developed species specific: (i) phylogenetic framework, (ii) signatures (30 nts) and (iii) <it>in silico </it>restriction enzyme (14 Type II REs) digestion patterns. These tools allowed: (i) species level identification of 95 <it>Clostridium </it>sp. which are presently classified up to genus level, (ii) identification of 84 novel <it>Clostridium </it>spp. and (iii) potential reduction in the number of <it>Clostridium </it>species represented by small populations.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This integrated approach is quite sensitive and can be easily extended as a molecular tool for diagnostic and taxonomic identification of any microbe of importance to food industries and health services. Since rapid and correct identification allows quicker diagnosis and consequently treatment as well, it is likely to lead to reduction in economic losses and mortality rates.</p

Phylogeny in Aid of the Present and Novel Microbial Lineages: Diversity in Bacillus

Bacillus represents microbes of high economic, medical and biodefense importance. Bacillus strain identification based on 16S rRNA sequence analyses is invariably limited to species level. Secondly, certain discrepancies exist in the segregation of Bacillus subtilis strains. In the RDP/NCBI databases, out of a total of 2611 individual 16S rDNA sequences belonging to the 175 different species of the genus Bacillus, only 1586 have been identified up to species level. 16S rRNA sequences of Bacillus anthracis (153 strains), B. cereus (211 strains), B. thuringiensis (108 strains), B. subtilis (271 strains), B. licheniformis (131 strains), B. pumilus (83 strains), B. megaterium (47 strains), B. sphaericus (42 strains), B. clausii (39 strains) and B. halodurans (36 strains) were considered for generating species-specific framework and probes as tools for their rapid identification. Phylogenetic segregation of 1121, 16S rDNA sequences of 10 different Bacillus species in to 89 clusters enabled us to develop a phylogenetic frame work of 34 representative sequences. Using this phylogenetic framework, 305 out of 1025, 16S rDNA sequences presently classified as Bacillus sp. could be identified up to species level. This identification was supported by 20 to 30 nucleotides long signature sequences and in silico restriction enzyme analysis specific to the 10 Bacillus species. This integrated approach resulted in identifying around 30% of Bacillus sp. up to species level and revealed that B. subtilis strains can be segregated into two phylogenetically distinct groups, such that one of them may be renamed

Ultraflexible Liposome Nanocargo as a Dermal and Transdermal Drug Delivery System

A selected active pharmaceutical ingredient must be incorporated into a cargo carrier in a particular manner so that it achieves its goal. An amalgamation of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) should be conducted in such a manner that it is simple, professional, and more beneficial. Lipids/polymers that are known to be used in nanocarriers for APIs can be transformed into a vesicular formulation, which offers elegant solutions to many problems. Phospholipids with other ingredients, such as ethanol and water, form suitable vesicular carriers for many drugs, overcoming many problems related to poor bioavailability, poor solubility, etc. Ultraflexible liposomes are novel carriers and new frontiers of drug delivery for transdermal systems. Auxiliary advances in vesicular carrier research have been made, enabling polymer-coated ethanolic liposomes to avoid detection by the body’s immune system—specifically, the cells of the reticuloendothelial system. Ultraflexible liposomes act as a cargo system and a nanotherapeutic approach for the transport of therapeutic drugs and bioactive agents. Various applications of liposome derivatives in different diseases are emphasized in this review