Adaptive Extended Kalman Filter for Ballistic Missile Tracking

In the current work, adaptive extended Kalman filter (AEKF) is presented for solution of ground radar based ballistic missile (BM) tracking problem in re-entry phase with unknown ballistic coefficient. The estimation of trajectory of any BM in re-entry phase is extremely difficult, because of highly non-linear motion of BM. The estimation accuracy of AEKF has been tested for a typical test target tracking problem adopted from literature. Further, the approach of AEKF is compared with extended Kalman filter (EKF). The simulation result indicates the superiority of the AEKF in solving joint parameter and state estimation problems

Evaluation of ethanolic and aqueous extract of Clitoria ternatea for antimicrobial activity

In the recent years, there has been an emerge and spread of infectious diseases and also developing resistance to the antibiotics, so there is a great concern to find potentially effective, safer natural alternative for the infectious diseases. The present study was focused on the antimicrobial activity of ethanol and aqueous extract of Clitoria ternatea root. The in-vitro antimicrobial study was carried out against bateriea viz. Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and fungus viz. Aspergilus niger, Candida albicans by the cup-plate method. The extracts of Clitoria ternatea roots were subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening for detection of chemical constituents present in them. Preliminary phytochemical screening study revealed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, tannins, phenol and flavonoids. The highest potential was observed in the ethanol extract of Clitoria ternatea roots. This study suggested that solvent polarity determined the phenol and flavonoid content significantly, hence affecting the antimicrobial activity. This plant extract which proved to be potentially effective can be used as a natural alternative for preventives to control infectious diseases causing due to the tested microorganisms

Evaluation of ethanolic and aqueous extract of Clitoria ternatea for antimicrobial activity

194-198In the recent years, there has been an emerge and spread of infectious diseases and also developing resistance to the antibiotics, so there is a great concern to find potentially effective, safer natural alternative for the infectious diseases. The present study was focused on the antimicrobial activity of ethanol and aqueous extract of Clitoria ternatea root. The in-vitro antimicrobial study was carried out against bateriea viz. Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and fungus viz. Aspergilus niger, Candida albicans by the cup-plate method. The extracts of Clitoria ternatea roots were subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening for detection of chemical constituents present in them. Preliminary phytochemical screening study revealed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, tannins, phenol and flavonoids. The highest potential was observed in the ethanol extract of Clitoria ternatea roots. This study suggested that solvent polarity determined the phenol and flavonoid content significantly, hence affecting the antimicrobial activity. This plant extract which proved to be potentially effective can be used as a natural alternative for preventives to control infectious diseases causing due to the tested microorganisms

Knockdown resistance mutations predict DDT resistance and pyrethroid tolerance in the visceral leishmaniasis vector Phlebotomus argentipes

BACKGROUND:Indoor residual spraying (IRS) with DDT has been the primary strategy for control of the visceral leishmaniasis (VL) vector Phlebotomus argentipes in India but efficacy may be compromised by resistance. Synthetic pyrethroids are now being introduced for IRS, but with a shared target site, the para voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC), mutations affecting both insecticide classes could provide cross-resistance and represent a threat to sustainable IRS-based disease control. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:A region of the Vgsc gene was sequenced in P. argentipes from the VL hotspot of Bihar, India. Two knockdown resistance (kdr) mutations were detected at codon 1014 (L1014F and L1014S), each common in mosquitoes, but previously unknown in phlebotomines. Both kdr mutations appear largely recessive, but as homozygotes (especially 1014F/F) or as 1014F/S heterozygotes exert a strong effect on DDT resistance, and significantly predict survivorship to class II pyrethroids in short-duration bioassays. The mutations are present at high frequency in wild P. argentipes populations from Bihar, with 1014F significantly more common in higher VL areas. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:The Vgsc mutations detected appear to be a primary mechanism underlying DDT resistance in P. argentipes and a contributory factor in reduced pyrethroid susceptibility, suggesting a potential impact if P. argentipes are subjected to suboptimal levels of pyrethroid exposure, or additional resistance mechanisms evolve. The assays to detect kdr frequency changes provide a sensitive, high-throughput monitoring tool to detecting spatial and temporal variation in resistance in P. argentipes

Prevalence of sand flies and leishmania donovani infection in a natural population of female phlebotomus argentipes in Bihar state, India

Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease, and in the Indian subcontinent the female Phlebotomus argentipes is the vector for Leishmania donovani. However, data on the extent of sand fly infection rates in natural settings using molecular methods have not been extensively reported in India. In this study a PCR technique was applied targeting the 18S rRNA encoding region to determine the prevalence of Leishmania infection in female P. argentipes captured in the field. For this study, sand flies were collected from 897 houses selected from 50 villages endemic for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Muzaffarpur district, Bihar state, using CDC miniature light traps and mouth aspirators. A total of 14,585 sand flies were collected of which 449 were female P. argentipes divided into 132 pools. Molecular detection using PCR targeting the 18S rRNA gene was carried out for the identification of P. argentipes and Leishmania. The overall prevalence of infection was 4.90–17.37% for L. donovani in female P. argentipes in endemic regions of Bihar state. In this study no correlation was found between the presence of infected sand flies and the occurrence of clinical VL. This study provides the first report evaluating the prevalence of Leishmania infection in sand flies in a region endemic for VL in India. Sergentomyia species are the most common species of sand fly. Knowledge of the infection rate in female P. argentipes may help in predicting severity of disease and in vector elimination programs

Seasonal variation in the prevalence of sand flies infected with Leishmania donovani.

Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a life threatening neglected infectious disease in the Indian subcontinent, transmitted by the bite of female sand flies. Estimation of the infectivity in the vector population, collected in different seasons, may be useful to better understanding the transmission dynamics of VL as well as to plan vector control measures.We collected sand flies from highly endemic regions of Bihar state, India for one year over three seasons. The species of the sand flies were confirmed by species-specific PCR-RFLP. Leishmania donovani infection was investigated in 1397 female Phlebotomus argentipes using PCR, targeting the Leishmania specific minicircle of the kDNA region. Further, the parasitic load in the infected sand flies was measured using quantitative PCR.Though sand flies were most abundant in the rainy season, the highest rate of infection was detected in the winter season with 2.84% sand flies infected followed by the summer and rainy seasons respectively. This study can help in vector elimination programmes and to reduce disease transmission