Stratigraphy and Paleoenvironments of the Soeginina Beds (Paadla Formation, Lower Ludlow, Upper Silurian) on Saaremaa Island, Estonia

The Soeginina Beds in the Paadla Formation on the island of Saaremaa, western Estonia, are a lower Ludlow (Upper Silurian) sequence of dolostones, marls, and stromatolites. They represent rocks just above the Wenlock/Ludlow boundary, which is distinguished by a major disconformity that can be correlated to a regional regression on the paleocontinent of Baltica. The depositional environments of the Soeginina Beds include a shelfal environment, restricted shallow marine setting, intertidal mudflat and finally a hypersaline supratidal setting. The evidence includes halite crystal molds, oscillation ripples, eurypterid fragments, stromatolites, ostracods, gastropods, Chondrites trace fossils, intraclasts and oncoids. Nautiloid conchs are common, probably because storm currents washed them in. I measured two sections of the Soeginina Beds at Kübassaare, eastern Saaremaa in western Estonia. The beds in one section are virtually horizontal; in the second they are steeply dipping, probably because of Pleistocene glacial ice overpressure. The beds begin with fine-grained dolostone and end with large, well-preserved domical stromatolites. The equivalent section at Soeginina Cliff in western Saaremaa (about 86 kilometers away) has larger oncoids, branching coral fragments, and bigger stromatolites. It is also more heavily dolomitized. These differences indicate that the western Soeginina Cliff was deposited in slightly deeper, less saline waters than those in the east at Kübassaare

Balanced Allocations and Double Hashing

Double hashing has recently found more common usage in schemes that use multiple hash functions. In double hashing, for an item $x$, one generates two hash values $f(x)$ and $g(x)$, and then uses combinations $(f(x) +k g(x)) \bmod n$ for $k=0,1,2,...$ to generate multiple hash values from the initial two. We first perform an empirical study showing that, surprisingly, the performance difference between double hashing and fully random hashing appears negligible in the standard balanced allocation paradigm, where each item is placed in the least loaded of $d$ choices, as well as several related variants. We then provide theoretical results that explain the behavior of double hashing in this context.Comment: Further updated, small improvements/typos fixe

Evaluation of sesamol for anxiolytic activity in 72 hours sleep deprivation model in C57BL/6 mice

Background: In our study, we explored anxiolytic activity of sesamol in C57BL/6 mice. Anxiety was induced in mice after 72 hours of sleep deprivation. Anxiety was assessed by three behavioural tests as Open field test, hole board test and light dark chamber test. Methods: In our study, sesamol was evaluated in C57BL/6 mice for anxiolytic activity. Anxiety was induced by flower pot technique, in which sleep deprivation was done in mice for 72 hours. After 72 hours of sleep deprivation, the animals were subjected to three behavioural tests, as open field test, Hole board test and Light dark chamber test. In the Open field test, parameter assessed was time spent in central square, that was considered as a measure of anxiolytic activity. In hole board test, increase in number of head dips was indicative of anxiolytic activity. Anxiety assessment was also done by light dark chamber test, where more time spent in light chamber is considered as indicative of anxiolytic activity. Results: In open field test, sesamol 20 mg/kg group, the time spent in central square was statistically significant (p<0.05) in post hoc comparison, suggesting that sesamol exhibited anxiolytic effect in animals. In hole board test, sesamol 20 mg/kg group showed significant increase (p<0.05) in number of head dips indicating its anxiolytic activity in the said model. In light dark chamber test, there is significant increase in anxiolytic activity in diazepam group as compared to control group, while not significant with sesamol in either dose in light dark chamber test. Conclusions: So, to conclude, sesamol exhibited statistically significant anxiolytic activity in the dose of 20 mg/kg in open field test and hole board test

Development and quality of apple -whey based herbal functional ready-to-serve beverage

Apple is one of the widely consumed fruits which constitute an important part of the human diet as a source of sugars and dietary fibres. But, it is poor in proteins and some minerals like calcium. On the other hand, whey- a by-product of dairy industry is an excellent source of proteins and calcium. Therefore, in the present study, apple-whey based functional ready-to-serve (RTS) beverage was developed by blending apple juice with whey and jaljeera extract and was evaluated for quality under ambient and refrigerated conditions during storage. The incorporation of whey had increased the calcium content from 3.96 to 15.64 mg/100 mL and total proteins from 0.07 to 0.29 % in the developed beverage. Further addition of jaljeera extract not only enhanced the sensory quality of the beverage, but also improved the ascorbic acid content (10.57 mg/100g) total phenols (37.86 mg/100g) and antioxidant activity (40.34 %). The developed product was stored safely for a period of sixty days under refrigerated storage conditions with minimum changes in chemical and sensory attributes

Comparative study of sonosalpingography versus hysterosalpingography for tubal patency test

Background: Various tubal pathologies accounts for 10% aetiological factors in infertility couples. Easy availability and accessibility of ultrasonography definitely can prove superior to conventional method of diagnosis of tubal patency in such patient. Aims and objectives of the study were to test the sensitivity and specificity of sonosalpingography (SSG) for tubal patency test in cases of infertility patients attending to our OPD and to compare the result of sonosalpingography v/s HSG.Methods: In a non randomised prospective control trial of 50 women complaining of infertility, suspected tubal pathologies underwent various radiological modalities. Sonosalpingography and hysterosalpingography was performed in all cases.Results: By using binomial proportion test there is no significant difference between results of SSG compare to HSG. Acceptability was 100% in SSG compared to 96% in HSG.Conclusions: Various modalities are suggested to evaluate tubal patency test in infertile women. Among those laparoscopic chromopertubation is gold standard method, but for initial workup as cost effectiveness acceptability, accessibility is concerned SSG is always superior to HSG

Virtual Surgical Planning in Subscapular System Free Flap Reconstruction of Midface Defects.

OBJECTIVES: Reconstruction of the midface has many inherent challenges, including orbital support, skull base reconstruction, optimizing midface projection, separation of the nasal cavity and dental rehabilitation. Subscapular system free flaps (SF) have sufficient bone stock to support complex reconstruction and the option of separate soft tissue components. This study analyzes the effect of virtual surgical planning (VSP) in SF for midface on subsite reconstruction, bone segment contact and anatomic position. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective cohort of patients with midface defects that underwent SF reconstruction at a single tertiary care institution. RESULTS: Nine cases with VSP were compared to fourteen cases without VSP. VSP was associated with a higher number of successfully reconstructed subunits (5.9 vs 4.2, 95% CI of mean difference 0.31-3.04, p = 0.018), a higher number of successful bony contact between segments (2.2 vs 1.4, 95% CI of mean difference 0.0-1.6, p = 0.050), and a higher percent of segments in anatomic position (100% vs 71%, 95% CI of mean difference 2-55%, p = 0.035). When postoperative bone position after VSP reconstruction was compared to preoperative scans, the difference in anteroposterior, vertical and lateral projection compared to the preoperative \u27ideal\u27 bone position was82% of measurements. There were no flap losses. CONCLUSION: VSP may augment SF reconstruction of the midface by allowing for improved subunit reconstruction, bony segment contact and anatomically correct bone segment positioning. VSP can be a useful adjunct for complex midface reconstruction and the benefits should be weighed against cost

Suboptimal chlorine treatment of drinking water leads to selection of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The present study was undertaken to investigate the spectrum of bacteria present in the River Gomti water before and after chlorination for drinking purposes. We observed that the strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that survived chlorination on three out of seven occasions were resistant to almost all the antibiotics tested. The chlorine-resistant bacteria had mucoid colonies and grew better at 24° C. All attempts to isolate the plasmid responsible for chlorine resistance were unsuccessful. Laboratory experiments using different strains of the P. aeruginosa in distilled water showed that only the resistant strain survived chlorine treatment at a dose of ≤500 μ g/L. Similar results were obtained when water collected from seven different sites on the River Gomti was treated with graded doses of chlorine. At the higher dose of chlorine, all the bacteria died in 30 min, whereas with lower doses all the bacteria survived. The present study underscores the importance of measuring water chlorine concentrations to assure they are sufficiently high to remove pathogenic bacteria from drinking water. To our knowledge, this is the first report in the literature of the selection of multidrug-resistant bacteria by suboptimal chlorine treatment of water

Ohmic Heating Technology and Its Application in Meaty Food: A Review

The purpose of the current review paper is to investigate and analyze about the effects of ohmic heating (OH) different application in the field of fish, meat and its product and compare it with other conventional thermal methods of food processing such as thawing, heating, cooking etc. Food quality, food safety, convenience, freshness, healthy food, natural flavor and taste with extended shelf-life are the main criteria for the demand made by today’s consumers. Ohmic heating is a substitute of conventional heating method of food commodities. It has shorter heating times, avoid hot surfaces and help to minimize temperature gradients. Product parameters such as electrical, thermo-physical and rheological properties of the food and process parameters such as the current frequency, electrode material and the geometry of ohmic chamber affect the process. as a result various application of OH are found such as heating, evaporation, dehydration, extraction, waste water treatment, thawing, cooking of different type fish and meat and its product such as meat ball, hamburger patties surmi, beef, turkey etc