Isolated Bilateral Congenital Iris Sphincter Agenesis

Purpose. We herein report a patient with bilateral congenital total iris sphincter agenesis with no other abnormality detected on systemic examination. Methods. A 24-year-old laborer presented to us for a routine checkup with complaint of photophobia and inability to work under sunlight. Examination revealed bilateral absence of sphincter and 6.5 mm pupil in both eyes in the undilated state. Results. Accommodation was poor in both eyes. Systemic examination was within normal limits. He was prescribed bifocal photochromic glasses for constant wear. Conclusions. Congenital sphincter agenesis can occur in an isolated form without systemic abnormalities which can be managed conservatively

Contribution of Anaerobic Digestion Coupled with Algal System towards Zero Waste

Global environmental protection is of immediate concern and it can only be achieved by avoiding the use of fossil fuels. In addition, waste disposal and management could be made remunerative through the generation of renewable energy so that sustainable development is ensured. India is an agriculture-based country, and paddy residues such as rice straw and rice husk are the largest agricultural wastes in India. Currently, the common practice to dispose paddy residues is through field burning, but this has adverse effects on the air quality and consequently on people’s health. However, utilization of lignocellulosic and non-food agricultural residues such as paddy residue for biogas generation by solid-stated anaerobic digestion (AD) is promising and this can substitute fossil fuels. Paddy residues for biogas production via AD has not been widely adopted because of its complex cell wall structure making it resistant to digestion by microbial attack. In addition, sequestration of carbon dioxide from biogas by algal biomass cultivated in an integrated algal bioreactor could be a promising option for biogas enrichment due to its unmatched advantages. This chapter presents the overview on utilization of non-edible residues for biogas production and its enrichment via algal biomass by means of circular bioeconomy

Validation of the Use of the Rapid Speech Transmission Index (Rasti) In Elementary School Classrooms

The aim of this study was to assess the validity of an objective method of speech intelligibility, the Rapid Speech Transmission Index (RASTI), in elementary school classrooms, The RASTI can be obtained more quickly than subjective measures of speech intelligibility and has been shown to be highly valid with adult listeners in auditoriums. In this study RASTI values were correlated with scores on a subjective test of speech intelligibility, the word intelligibility by Picture Identification (WIPI) test, for 45 students in two elementary classrooms (grades 1 through 3 and grade5). Results indicated that the RASTI value is a poor predictor of subjective speech intelligibility (WIPI) scores for these students. There was no significant difference between the correlations obtained in the two classrooms or between the correlations obtained with the average and largest of the three RASTI values and the WIPI scores. Further study needs to be done to determine the applicability of the RASTI to classroom environments

Integration of HSP90 inhibition in combinational immunotherapies targeting receptor tyrosine kinase EphA2

Limitations in CD8+ T cell recognition of tumor cells due to defects in their antigen processing machinery or the selection of variants expressing low or absent levels of cognate tumor antigens have been previously identified as impediments to effective cancer immunotherapy. Hence, treatment regimens that coordinately promote enhanced activation of anti-tumor CD8+ T cells, improved delivery of such effector cells into tumor sites, and augmented recognition of tumor or tumor-associated stromal cells by therapeutic CD8+ T cells, would be expected to yield greater clinical benefit. Using an MCA205 sarcoma model, I show that in vitro treatment of tumor cells with the HSP90 inhibitor 17-DMAG results in the transient (proteasome-dependent) degradation of the HSP90 client protein EphA2 and the subsequent increased recognition of tumor cells by Type-1 anti-EphA2 CD8+ T cells. In vivo administration of 17-DMAG to tumor-bearing mice led to: i.) slowed tumor growth; ii.) enhanced/prolonged recognition of tumor cells by anti-EphA2 CD8+ T cells; iii.) reduced levels of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and regulatory T cells (Treg) in the tumor microenvironment (TME); and iv.) activation of tumor-associated vascular endothelial cells in association with elevated levels of Type-1 tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL). When combined with EphA2-specific active vaccination or the adoptive transfer of EphA2-specific CD8+ T cells, 17-DMAG cotreatment yielded a superior tumor therapeutic regimen that was capable of rendering animals free of disease

Profile of organophosphate poising cases, clinical outcome and factors associated with outcome among them in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Poisoning by Organophosphorus poisoning is still one of the most common cause of poisoning and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. With addition of new compounds and changing patient profile, periodic studies exploring the factors affecting treatment outcomes are vital in providing effective management.Methods: The current study was conducted with an objective of assessing the profile of organophosphate poisoning and factors affecting the outcome in a tertiary care hospital. The current study was a prospective observational study, conducted in the emergency department of medical inpatient ward and ICU of NRI medical college and Hospital, Andhra Pradesh between June 2015 to July 2016. Patients >18 years admitted to emergency department organophosphorus or carbamate poisoning were included in the study.Results: One hundred patients presented to the hospital between June 2015 to July 2016 of which 71% were males. About 59% of the patients belonged to 21-30-year group and 67% of them reached our hospital in 10 was found in 75% of the patients and the overall mortality of OP poisoning was 17%.Conclusions: OP poisoning is more common among younger population, below 30 years with male preponderance. Favourable outcome determinants were younger age, female gender, being admitted to the hospital before 6 hours of OP consumption

Preparation and Characterization of CuO Nanoparticles by Novel Sol-Gel Technique

Recent developments of nanosize materials of metal and metal oxide particles are intensively pursued because of their prominence in different fields of applications. Among all the transition metal oxides, CuO is a potential candidate for the application of magnetic storage devices, solar energy transfer, sensors, and super capacitors etc. Moreover CuO nanoparticles act as a good catalyst in some of the chemical reactions. CuO nanoparticles were prepared by novel sol-gel method. In this technique CuCl2.6H2O is added with acetic acid and heated to 100 °C with continuous stirring. To control the ph of the above solution, NaOH is added to the solution till ph reached desired value. The color of the solution changed from blue to black with precipitation. The black precipitation was washed 3 – 4 times with distilled water. Finally the solution was centrifuged and dried in air for one day. The CuO nanoparticles were characterized by studying their structure with X-ray diffraction and composition by energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The size of the nanoparticles is estimated by particle size analyzer and transmission electron microscopy. The optical studies were carried out with Uv-Vis spectrophotometer. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/2960

A Novel Neural Network Classifier for Brain Computer Interface

Brain computer interfaces (BCI) provides a non-muscular channel for controlling a device through electroencephalographic signals to perform different tasks. The BCI system records the Electro-encephalography (EEG) and detects specific patterns that initiate control commands of the device. The efficiency of the BCI depends upon the methods used to process the brain signals and classify various patterns of brain signal accurately to perform different tasks. Due to the presence of artifacts in the raw EEG signal, it is required to preprocess the signals for efficient feature extraction. In this paper it is proposed to implement a BCI system which extracts the EEG features using Discrete Cosine transforms. Also, two stages of filtering with the first stage being a butterworth filter and the second stage consisting of an moving average 15 point spencer filter has been used to remove random noise and at the same time maintaining a sharp step response. The classification of the signals is done using the proposed Semi Partial Recurrent Neural Network. The proposed method has very good classification accuracy compared to conventional neural network classifiers. Keywords: Brain Computer Interface (BCI), Electro Encephalography (EEG), Discrete Cosine transforms(DCT), Butterworth filters, Spencer filters, Semi Partial Recurrent Neural network, laguarre polynomia

ENHANCED TRANSDERMAL PERMEABILITY OF TELMISARTAN BY A NOVEL NANOEMULSION GEL

Objective: Telmisartan is an angiotensin II type I receptor blocker antihypertensive agent with 42% oral bioavailability. The aim of the present investigation was to develop a nanoemulsion gel to enhance bioavailability of poorly water soluble Telmisartan.Methods: Different nanoemulsion components (oil, surfactant and co-surfactant) were selected on the basis of solubility and emulsification ability. Pseudotemary phase diagrams were constructed using aqueous titration method. Carbopol 934 was added as a gel matrix to convert nanoemulsion into nanoemulsion gel. Drug loaded nanoemulsions and nanoemulsion gels were characterized for particle size, viscosity, rheological behavior, thermodynamic stability studies and ex vivo permeation studies using rat skin. Transdermal permeation of Telmisartan from nanoemulsion gels was determined using Franz Diffusion cell.Results: The optimized nanoemulsion gel (NEG) contained Labrafil®M 2125 CS (14.3%) as oil, Acrysol®EL 135 (30.84%) as surfactant, Carbitol® (15.42%) as co-surfactant and (32.44%) water; 20 mg drug and 1% w/w carbopol. The ex vivo permeation profile of optimized formulation was compared to nanoemulsion and normal gel. Permeability parameters like steady-state flux (Jss), permeability coefficient (Kp), and enhancement ratio (Er) were significantly increased in nanoemulsion (NE) and nanoemulsion gel (NEG) as compared to conventional gel. There was a considerable improvement in bio availability for nanoemulsion gel compared to the conventional telemisartan gel.Conclusion: Nanoemulsion gel has significantly increased the bio-availability of the drug.Â

Coupling of Currencies: An INR and USD Perspective

This paper aims to explore the relationship between the Indian Rupees (INR) and USDollars (USD). It further tries to identify whether the volatility of exchange rates is affected by various events. Bivariate causality tests have been run on the exchange rates of INR and USD which have revealed a coupled relationship between them. Further, it was found that the magnitude of the impact on the volatility of exchange rates varies according to the nature of the event