Comparative Studies on the Butterfly Diversity and Species Richness in Selected Agricultural Fields in Tamil Nadu

Butterflies are valued components of grassland ecosystems both for their aesthetic nature and they provide as pollinators of the ecosystem services. Loss and fragmentation of native habitats, along with other disturbances associated with intensive agriculture can have dramatic effects on butterfly communities. The close link between butterflies and their natural environment make them good candidates for use as ecological indicators. Hence an attempt has been made to study the diversity and pollination tendencies of butterflies between organic crop fields and pesticide sprayed crop fields. The research was set out to establish whether organic and conventional farming systems support different levels of pest and non-pest butterflies. In the present study maximum insect abundance and total number of individuals were recorded in organic fields. The study also proved that organic farming practices can help in the population build-up of natural enemies and pollinators. However there was remarkable difference in Shannon index and Simpson index of diversity between organic and chemical fields. Phytophagous insect populations were very low in number in organic farms. Hence organic farming practices may encourage natural enemies' diversity and may not be favourable for pests

A 19 Year Old Male With HIV Presents With Diffuse Lymphadenopathy

Background In 1872, Moritz Kaposi first described an idiopathic multiple pigmented sarcoma of the skin;\u27\u27 now identified as Kaposi\u27s sarcoma (KS).\u27 While multiple forms ofKSexist, over9S% of the cases diagnosed in the US since 1981 are of the AIDS associated variety.2 Kaposi originally described KS as skin lesions that can progress to visceral involvement. However, in a small number of cases, KS can appear in the viscera without skin involvement. These alternate presentations of KS are difficult to diagnose; therefore, it is critical to recognize them when considering differential diagnoses, particularly in patients with HIV. Case Presentation An 18-year-old African American male with a history ofHIV presented with progressive worsening of diffuse and painful lymphadenopathy fore five weeks prior to admission. The patient was diagnosed with HIV in 2010 and due to insurance issues, was never treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). His last CD4 count (approximately two weeks prior to admission) was 411 and he had no history of opportunistic infections. He first noticed swelling in his neck, under his armpits and in his groin five weeks prior, which had become progressively more painful. The patient denied fevers, chills or weight loss, but did report significant night sweats and episodes ofhemoptysis with dots. He denied shortness ofbreath or chest pain. He also denied recent travel, history of incarceration, homelessness or exposure to active tuberculosis infection

Predicting optical coherence tomography-derived diabetic macular edema grades from fundus photographs using deep learning

Diabetic eye disease is one of the fastest growing causes of preventable blindness. With the advent of anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) therapies, it has become increasingly important to detect center-involved diabetic macular edema (ci-DME). However, center-involved diabetic macular edema is diagnosed using optical coherence tomography (OCT), which is not generally available at screening sites because of cost and workflow constraints. Instead, screening programs rely on the detection of hard exudates in color fundus photographs as a proxy for DME, often resulting in high false positive or false negative calls. To improve the accuracy of DME screening, we trained a deep learning model to use color fundus photographs to predict ci-DME. Our model had an ROC-AUC of 0.89 (95% CI: 0.87-0.91), which corresponds to a sensitivity of 85% at a specificity of 80%. In comparison, three retinal specialists had similar sensitivities (82-85%), but only half the specificity (45-50%, p<0.001 for each comparison with model). The positive predictive value (PPV) of the model was 61% (95% CI: 56-66%), approximately double the 36-38% by the retinal specialists. In addition to predicting ci-DME, our model was able to detect the presence of intraretinal fluid with an AUC of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.81-0.86) and subretinal fluid with an AUC of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.85-0.91). The ability of deep learning algorithms to make clinically relevant predictions that generally require sophisticated 3D-imaging equipment from simple 2D images has broad relevance to many other applications in medical imaging

The role of probiotics in managing premenstrual syndrome: insights into beneficial bacterial strains

Premenstrual disorders (PMDs), encompassing premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), affect a significant number of women globally. Despite various hypothesized causes like hormonal shifts, serotonin imbalances, and lifestyle factors, the precise etiology remains unclear. Recent research emphasizes the crucial role of the gut microbiota in influencing mental and physical health, particularly through the gut-brain axis, which facilitates neuroendocrine communication. The gut microbiome's impact on endocrine, metabolic, and immune systems is significant, linking variations in gut microbiota diversity to conditions such as major depressive disorder (MDD) and metabolic disorders. Probiotics, known for modulating gut microbiota, show promise in managing PMDs and primary dysmenorrhea by influencing microbial diversity, metabolite profiles, and inflammatory pathways. Studies indicate that certain probiotic strains regulate cytokine production, enhance immunological tolerance, and may alleviate symptoms of hormone-related disorders. Traditional treatments for primary dysmenorrhea, including NSAIDs and hormonal therapy, often have adverse effects and limited efficacy, making probiotics a safer and potentially more effective alternative. Further research is essential to fully understand the molecular mechanisms of probiotics. However, current evidence suggests they could significantly improve women's reproductive health, reduce premenstrual symptoms, and offer a novel approach to managing primary dysmenorrhea, thereby enhancing the quality of life for affected women

Corrosion Inhibition Effect of Dicycloimine Hydrochloride (DCI) on Mild Steel in 1M HCl

Addition of corrosion inhibitors is one of the widely used methods to control corrosion. In this work, an attempt has been made to explore the possibility of using dicycloimine hydrochloride (DCI) as an inhibitor on mild steel in 1 M HCl. The inhibition efficiency of DCI has been evaluated by conventional weight loss method and electrochemical polarization studies. Experimental results are fitted to various adsorption isotherms. Thermodynamic parameters have also been studied from temperature studies. The results reveal that DCI acts as an effective inhibitor (around 90% of IE) in HCl media

Metabolic Complications and Increased Cardiovascular Risks as a Result of Androgen Deprivation Therapy in Men with Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignancies in men. Charles Huggins and Clarence V. Hodges reported the androgen dependence of prostate cancer in 1941. That led to the utilization of androgen deprivation therapy as an important therapeutic modality to treat prostate cancer. Androgen deprivation therapy has additional systemic effects that include sexual dysfunction, psychological changes and more important are the metabolic changes. Metabolic changes in particular include insulin resistance, increase fat mass and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and induce type 2 diabetes. In this review we will focus on the cardiovascular risk associated with androgen deprivation therapy that includes the mechanisms involved

Hydrodynamics of a Cluster Descending at the Wall of a CFB Riser - Numerical Study

The incompressible hydrodynamics of a single parabolic cluster descending at the wall of a CFB riser was numerically simulated using a 2-D Eulerian-Granular model and a segregated time-dependent unsteady solver. Numerical predictions of the velocity of descent and the evolution of cluster shape are in reasonable agreement with experimental results available in the literature

Optimized Parameter of Wavelet Neural Network (WNN) using INGA

Genetic algorithm has been one of the most popular methods for many challenging optimization problems. It is a critical problem in which the evacuation time is an important issues. The continuous air traffic growth and limits of resources, there is a need for reducing the congestion of the airspace system. The main objective of this work is to automatically adapt the airspace configurations, according to the evolution of traffic Niche genetic algorithm(INGA) was used in reliability optimization of software system. And also the searching performance of the genetic algorithm was improved by the stochastic tournament model. The multi-module complex software system reliability allocation effectively. Genetic algorithm (GA) and FGA are compared though seven benchmark function. It can be applied to a wider range of problem including multi-level problem. The uniform schema crossover operator and the non-uniform mutation in the genetic algorithm

A Study to Evaluate the Association of Biomarkers with Pulmonary Capillary Wedge Pressure and Plasma Concentration of the Inotrope Dobutamine in Patients Undergoing On-Pump CABG Surgery in a Superspeciality Hospital at Coimbatore: A Prospective Observational study

BACKGROUND: On-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) is considered the gold standard surgical revascularization procedure. On-Pump CABG surgery uses a Cardio-Pulmonary Bypass machine that enables the entire cardiac output to circumvent the patient's heart and lungs. The intra-operative Pulmonary Capillary Wedge Pressure (PCWP) reflects Left ventricular End Diastolic Volume, which is increased in case of left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Such a dysfunction demands judicious use of inotropes to improve myocardial contractility. The cardiac biomarker NT-Pro BNP is an acknowledged marker of Left Ventricular Systolic dysfunction that results in Low Cardiac Output Syndrome (LCOS). The inotrope that is commonly used to tackle a LCOS is Dobutamine. Cardio Pulmonary Bypass machine employed during an On-Pump CABG surgery elicits a Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) with the production of various inflammatory cytokines which are known to influence the pharmacokinetics of various drugs administered during the course of the procedure. AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the role of a cardiac biomarker NT-Pro BNP and an inflammatory marker TNF-α on the Pulmonary Capillary Wedge Pressure (PCWP) and the plasma concentration of the inotrope dobutamine in patients undergoing On-Pump CABG surgery. OBJECTIVES: 1. To evaluate if the preoperative level of the cardiac biomarker NT-Pro BNP, correlates with intraoperatively measured Pulmonary Capillary Wedge Pressure (PCWP) in patients undergoing On-Pump CABG surgery. 2. To evaluate the role of the inflammatory mediator TNF alpha on the intraoperative plasma concentration of Dobutamine. 3. To evaluate the association of NT-pro BNP and TNF-α with existing comorbidities. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Between July 2018 and June 2019, 44 patients who underwent On-Pump CABG surgery in the department of CTVS at PSG hospitals were included in the study. About 4ml of venous blood sample was collected in the preoperative period and centrifuged to separate plasma, in which Plasma NT-Pro BNP and Plasma TNF alpha was estimated using respective ELISA kits. During surgery hemodynamic parameters including PCWP was collected from the anaesthetist. Fourth hour from incision, 4ml of venous blood sample was collected and centrifuged to separate plasma, in which Plasma TNF alpha was measured using ELISA kit and Plasma concentration of Dobutamine at steady state was estimated using HPLC. RESULTS: Results revealed that a strong positive linear relationship existed between pre-operative NT-Pro BNP and PCWP (r= 0.821**;p 0.05 and there was no significant difference in the level of NT Pro BNP and TNFα among participants with and without the co-morbidities (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The present study highlights the importance of estimating Preoperative NT-pro BNP that could serve as a valuable marker in predicting intraoperative risk of developing LCOS with elevated PCWP in patients undergoing on-pump CABG surgery and aid anaesthetists and surgeons in decision making prior to surgery. The influence of TNF-alpha on dobutamine concertation at steady state requires further investigation in large scale prospective studies

Effect of Upper Body Resistance Training on Respiratory Function in Sedantary Male Smokers

BACK GROUND OF THE STUDY: Improvement in diaphragmatic excursion and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) in sedentary male smokers using upper body resistance training along with conventional breathing exercises. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: To evaluate the effect of upper body resistance training on diaphragmatic excursion and Peak expiratory flow rate in sedentary male smokers. STUDY DESIGN: The Research approach for the study was an randomized quasi experimental study. METHODOLOGY: The study included 40 male volunteers with sedentary life style.40 were randomly allocated by lot system to control group and experimental group. Control group - receives conventional breathing exercise. Experimental group - receives conventional breathing exercise with upper body resistance training. The Experimental group were assigned to exercise for 4 weeks, 3 times weekly on non-consecutive days using Upper body resistance training program and breathing exercise. In the Control group only breathing exercise was given for 10 min. Intervention effect was tested using inch tape and PEFR (peak expiratory flow rate) . CONCLUSIONS: Four weeks of UBRT program brought about significant changes in the pulmonary function in male sedentary smokers promoting an increase in, diaphragmatic excursion and peak expiratory flow rate in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease