A platform for benchmarking Database Management Systems: CyDIW

Relational databases have been popular since a very long time. They store data in a structured way providing optimisation and simplicity. Although the strict structure does not provide flexibility to the developer. It works on having primary key and foreign keys. Joins are created at runtime which eat a lot of memory and time. Graph databases involve nodes and edges. Each node represents an entity and each edge represents a relationship. So when an equivalent JOIN operation is run in graph databases, it saves the time from doing extensive searching. Although graph databases have started gaining a lot of popularity recently, everyone is interested in comparing these popular database management systems. We propose CyDIW (Cyclone Database Implementation Workbench) benchmarking, for measuring performance of MySQL (Relational Database Management System) and Neo4j(Graph Database Management System) in various aspects. CyDIW provides a one-click system to perform an extensive experiment to compare query runtimes. This benchmarking involves a graph model with multiple node types and CRUD operations. We discuss in details the process of creating Neo4j adapter for CyDIW system, which was successfully completed. After extensive study, we see that MySQL is faster than Neo4j for most of the CRUD operations

Computer and Video Games in Mental Health

Due to the breakthrough of new technological devices in the last decade, electronic media has now become an integral part of our lives. Among its various forms, playing video games is one screen-based recreational activity enjoyed across various age groups and genders. Although undoubtedly entertaining, there is a considerable debate over the relative impact of video gaming on an individual. Traditionally, the research has focused on the negative effects of playing video games, but recent studies show that they can be an effective tool to reduce stress caused by daily hassles, help connect with likeminded people, and enhance a wide range of cognitive skills. There is also a small pool of research on the use of commercial video games in a therapeutic capacity to help build rapport and provide social skill training. This manuscript is focused on reviewing the pertinent research of the last two decades and from various online sources of scientific information on the abovementioned aspects of electronic and video games, their therapeutic implications in mental health, and suggesting future research directions

Lithium as an Alternative Option in Graves Thyrotoxicosis

A 67-year-old woman was admitted with signs and symptoms of Graves thyrotoxicosis. Biochemistry results were as follows: TSH was undetectable; FT4 was \u3e6.99 ng/dL (0.7–1.8); FT3 was 18 pg/mL (3–5); TSI was 658% (0–139). Thyroid uptake and scan showed diffusely increased tracer uptake in the thyroid gland. The patient was started on methimazole 40 mg BID, but her LFTs elevated precipitously with features of fulminant hepatitis. Methimazole was determined to be the cause and was stopped. After weighing pros and cons, lithium was initiated to treat her persistent thyrotoxicosis. Lithium 300 mg was given daily with a goal to maintain between 0.4 and 0.6. High dose Hydrocortisone and propranolol were also administered concomitantly. Free thyroid hormone levels decreased and the patient reached a biochemical and clinical euthyroid state in about 8 days. Though definitive RAI was planned, the patient has been maintained on lithium for more than a month to control her hyperthyroidism. Trial removal of lithium results in reemergence of thyrotoxicosis within 24 hours. Patient was maintained on low dose lithium treatment with lithium level just below therapeutic range which was sufficient to maintain euthyroid state for more than a month. There were no signs of lithium toxicity within this time period. Conclusion. Lithium has a unique physiologic profile and can be used to treat thyrotoxicosis when thionamides cannot be used while awaiting elective radioablation. Lithium levels need to be monitored; however, levels even at subtherapeutic range may be sufficient to treat thyrotoxicosis

EXTRACELLULAR ALKALINE PROTEASE PRODUCING HALO-ALKALITOLERANT BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM MARINE COASTS OF ODISHA

Objective: The objective of the present study was on the isolation of alkali-tolerant bacteria from sediment samples of different coasts of Odisha, having potentiality to produce alkaline protease.Methods: About 25 sediment samples were collected and analyzed for pH and moisture contents. Then isolation of alkali-tolerants was done using Horikoshi media at 10.3 pH. Isolates were analyzed for producing alkaline protease by plate assay method both at pH 6 and 10. Effects of temperature on protease production were also determined. Besides a new method of quantification of enzymes were adapted. Along this the isolates were partially characterized and identification was done using PIBWin software.Results: About 80 isolates were initially isolated, and 11 isolates were considered based on maximal zones of clearances at alkaline pH. Maximum solubilisation index (SI) was found to be 30 mm by 3 isolates viz. AP2, AP8 and AP13 while maximum hydrolytic run percentage (HR%) was found to be 65.39% by AP3. About 45.46% isolates had capability for protease production at 37 °C and 18.18% at 57 °C while 81.82% isolates showed production at 17 °C. AP8 was the good producers of alkaline protease having SI 39 mm at pH 10 while incubating at 47 °C. Isolates were characterized partially by cultural, morphological, biochemical and physiological tests, which were belonged to the genera of Bacillus, Virgibacillus and Micrococcus. The isolated bacteria showed growth at pH ranges from 4-12 and can tolerate 12% NaCl concentrations for their growth.Conclusion: Due to the above unique features and capability to produce alkaline proteases by the marine isolates, can be used significantly in various industries.Keywords: Alkali-tolerant, Alkaline protease, Halo-tolerant, Hydrolytic run, Odisha-coas

Phenothiazine-Based D-A-π-A Dyes for Highly Efficient Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Effect of Internal Acceptor and Non-Conjugated π-Spacer on Device Performance.

Three new D-A-π-A metal-free organic dyes based on phenothiazine as a donor (D) and non-conjugated π-spacer were designed and synthesized. The incorporation of different 'internal acceptors' (electron traps) such as benzothiadiazole (BTD), benzotriazole (BTA), and pyridine were shown to allow systematic tuning of the energy levels and the photophysical properties. The AI-1 dye showed lower electronic disorder compared with the other two dyes. The efficiencies achieved with AI-1, AI-2, and AI-3 dyes were 8.5 % (Jsc =15.42 mA cm-2 , Voc =0.78 V, FF=68 %), 7 % (Jsc =12.8 mA cm-2 , Voc =0.78 V, FF=68 %) and 6.7 % (Jsc =11.57 mA cm-2 , Voc =0.82 V, FF=68.26 %), respectively. The incorporation of non-conjugated phenothiazine as a π-spacer in D-A-π-A dyes showed remarkable enhancement in the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) devices. The sealed DSSC devices with iodide/tri-iodide (I- /I3 - )-based liquid electrolyte showed promising stability under ambient conditions

A platform for benchmarking Database Management Systems: CyDIW

Relational databases have been popular since a very long time. They store data in a structured way providing optimisation and simplicity. Although the strict structure does not provide flexibility to the developer. It works on having primary key and foreign keys. Joins are created at runtime which eat a lot of memory and time. Graph databases involve nodes and edges. Each node represents an entity and each edge represents a relationship. So when an equivalent JOIN operation is run in graph databases, it saves the time from doing extensive searching. Although graph databases have started gaining a lot of popularity recently, everyone is interested in comparing these popular database management systems. We propose CyDIW (Cyclone Database Implementation Workbench) benchmarking, for measuring performance of MySQL (Relational Database Management System) and Neo4j(Graph Database Management System) in various aspects. CyDIW provides a one-click system to perform an extensive experiment to compare query runtimes. This benchmarking involves a graph model with multiple node types and CRUD operations. We discuss in details the process of creating Neo4j adapter for CyDIW system, which was successfully completed. After extensive study, we see that MySQL is faster than Neo4j for most of the CRUD operations.</p

In-silico identification and prioritization of therapeutic targets of asthma

Abstract Asthma is a “common chronic disorder that affects the lungs causing variable and recurring symptoms like repeated episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and underlying inflammation. The interaction of these features of asthma determines the clinical manifestations and severity of asthma and the response to treatment" [cited from: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Expert Panel 3 Report. Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma 2007 (EPR-3). Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7232/ (accessed on January 3, 2023)]. As per the WHO, 262 million people were affected by asthma in 2019 that leads to 455,000 deaths ( https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/asthma ). In this current study, our aim was to evaluate thousands of scientific documents and asthma associated omics datasets to identify the most crucial therapeutic target for experimental validation. We leveraged the proprietary tool Ontosight® Discover to annotate asthma associated genes and proteins. Additionally, we also collected and evaluated asthma related patient datasets through bioinformatics and machine learning based approaches to identify most suitable targets. Identified targets were further evaluated based on the various biological parameters to scrutinize their candidature for the ideal therapeutic target. We identified 7237 molecular targets from published scientific documents, 2932 targets from genomic structured databases and 7690 dysregulated genes from the transcriptomics and 560 targets from genomics mutational analysis. In total, 18,419 targets from all the desperate sources were analyzed and evaluated though our approach to identify most promising targets in asthma. Our study revealed IL-13 as one of the most important targets for asthma with approved drugs on the market currently. TNF, VEGFA and IL-18 were the other top targets identified to be explored for therapeutic benefit in asthma but need further clinical testing. HMOX1, ITGAM, DDX58, SFTPD and ADAM17 were the top novel targets identified for asthma which needs to be validated experimentally

Decadal terminus position changes and ice thickness measurement of Menthosa Glacier in Lahaul region of North-Western Himalaya

Glacier ice-thickness measurement and distribution is one of the essential variables to assess present status of glacier-water equivalent and its volumetric reserve as well as to model the future glacier dynamics under the climate changing scenario. Yet, substantial gaps in ice thickness information exist for the Himalayan glaciers. The present study provides a long-term assessment (1965–2016) of recessional and area change patterns, as well as the detailed field-based (2016–2017) Ground Penetrating Radar(GPR), derived ice-thickness measurement of the Menthosa Glacier, Lahaul Himalaya. Additionally, the study examines whether the modelled ice thickness from remote sensing data is consistent with the field-based GPR measurement and how can it be improved. The extensive field surveys coupled with the multi-temporal high (Corona KH-4A) to medium resolution (Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper+ (ETM+)/Operational Land Imager (OLI), Sentinel 2A-Multispectral Instrument (MSI)) remote sensing data and cross-sectional GPR surveyed profile measurements have been used to examine past half a century (1965–2016) glacier fluctuation and the recent ice-thickness estimations, respectively. The results show that the Menthosa Glacier receded by 301.5 ± 19.2 m during the past half a century (1965–2016) with an average annual retreat of 5.9 ± 0.4 m a−1, whereas glacier lost 0.09 km2 ice in the frontal section. Field measurement over the past one decade (2006–2017) also conforms to a continuous recessional pattern and substantial glacier degeneration particularly the extensive surface lowering and significant appearance of ice-cliffs in the ablation and lateral zones over this period. The GPR measurements (2017) show the minimum glacier ice thickness of 24 meters at 4691 m a.s.l. (in the lower part of ablation area) and maximum glacier ice thickness of 55 meters measured at 4758 m a.s.l. (in the upper left-side tributary part of ablation area). Moreover, the modelled ice thickness derived from remotely sensed data is having Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) between 38 to 72 ± 10 m as compared with GPR measured ice thickness