Finite element models to represent seismic activity of the Indian plate

AbstractQuantification of seismic activity is one of the most challenging problems faced by earthquake engineers in probabilistic seismic hazard analysis. Currently, this problem has been attempted using empirical approaches which are based on the regional earthquake recurrence relations from the available earthquake catalogue. However, at a specified site of engineering interest, these empirical models are associated with large number of uncertainties due to lack of sufficient data. Due to these uncertainties, engineers need to develop mechanistic models to quantify seismic activity. A wide range of techniques for modeling continental plates provides useful insights on the mechanics of plates and their seismic activity. Among the different continental plates, the Indian plate experiences diffused seismicity. In India, although Himalaya is regarded as a plate boundary and active region, the seismicity database indicates that there are other regions in the Indian shield reporting sporadic seismic activity. It is expected that mechanistic models of Indian plate, based on finite element method, simulate stress fields that quantify the seismic potential of active regions in India. This article explores the development of a finite element model for Indian plate by observing the simulated stress field for various boundary conditions, geological and rheological conditions. The study observes that the magnitude and direction of stresses in the plate is sensitive to these conditions. The numerical analysis of the models shows that the simulated stress field represents the active seismic zones in India

Bioactive potential of symbiotic bacteria and fungi from marine sponges

Marine sponges are rich in microbial biota. In this study, totally four sponges namely Callyspongia diffusa, Hyattella Cribriformis, Sigmadocia carnosa, Spongia officininalis Var ceylonensis were collected and their associated bacteria and fungi were isolated. Among the microbes isolated, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Penicillium citrinum were isolated from C. diffusa which showed broad range of activity against tested pathogens. This study demonstrates that the culturable fraction of bacteria and fungi from the sponges were diverse and appears to possess much potential as a source for the discovery of new medically relevant biological active agents.Keywords: Sponges, antibacterial activity, antifungal activityAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 11(29), pp. 7500-7511, 10 April, 201

To estimate the incidence, etiology and risk factors of wound infections in women who undergoes caesarean section at Kilpauk Medical College Hospital: A Prospective analytical study

BACKGROUND: The postpartum period is the challenging time for women and a post operative wound infection further intensifies an already difficult period of adjustment. Despite numerous investigations there is disagreement about risk factors of surgical site infection after caesarean section. Therefore the purpose of this study is to know the frequency of wound infections; associated risk factors and the various treatment modalities in treating wound infections. OBJECTIVES: 1. To analyse the frequency of wound infections after caesarean section, to find out associated risk factors and the most common causative organism in wound infections. 2. To know about the various treatment modalities to treat wound infections. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study will be carried out on 700 cases undergoing lower segment caesarean section. Both elective and emergency caesarean section will be included in the study. In postoperative period the women will be monitored for signs of development of wound infections and bacteriological study will be carried out if necessary. Management of wound infections and their outcome will be evaluated. RESULT: A total of 700 patients undergoing LSCS were selected. 8.14% of the cohort in the study developed wound infections which were mainly superficial wound infection (56.41%). Anemia, DM, chorioamnionitis, obstructed labour, PROM, obesity were significant risk factors for the development of wound infections. The most common bacterial isolate in the study was staphylococcus aureus. CONCLUSION: The study confirms that risk factors like anemia, DM, PROM, chorioamnionitis, obstructed labour, obesity, hypertension, pose risk for wound complication. Wound infections increase the duration of hospital stay

Factors determining short term graft function in Renal Transplant Recipients.

INTRODUCTION : The first successful kidney transplants in humans were from identical twin living donors. Although transplanted before the development of chemical immunosuppression, many of these identical twin grafts had long-term survival. With recognition of the immunosuppressive effects of prednisone and azathioprine, the use of non twin donors became possible. Considerable controversy soon followed as to whether it was ethical to use living donors for kidney transplantation. Proponents of the use of living donors noted that the short and long-term patient and graft survival rates were better after living (vs. cadaver) donor transplants. Opponents worried that living donor nephrectomy was a major operation with potential risk to the donor; they believed that these risks did not justify the benefits to the recipient. The biggest challenge in transplantation today is increasing the number of available organs. However, in the past 2 years, the number of living donor transplants in the United States has increased. Much of this increase followed the recognition that living unrelated donor recipients had out-comes similar to those of living related non-HLAidentical donor recipients. OBJECTIVES : To determine the factors that influence graft functioning at 1 year in live related Donor Renal Transplant. CONCLUSIONS : 1. Donor age influenced graft function at 1year significantly. 2. Discharge creatinine influenced graft function significantly. 3. Donor GFR was significantly associated with graft function at 1 year. 4. Even though Intra operative hypotension had an influence on graft function at 1 year, it was not statistically significant. 5. Events such as Acute Rejections, and Graft Dysfunction during the first year significantly influenced graft function at 1 year. 6. Recipient Age, First day urine output and time taken to reach normal creatinine post operatively were not significantly associated with graft function at 1 year

Overexpression of S100A4 as a biomarker of metastasis and recurrence in oral squamous cell carcinoma

S100A4, a biomarker of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), plays an important role in invasion and metastasis by promoting cancer cell motility. In oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), metastasis results in 90% of cancer associated mortality. Objective: To investigate the role of S100A4 expression as an important component of the epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) program in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Material and Methods: S100A4 protein expression was assessed semi-quantitatively by immunohistochemistry in 47 histologically confirmed cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and 10 normal oral mucosal biopsies. The association between the S100A4 overexpression and the aggressive features of OSCC were analyzed by X2 test. Results: Moderate to strong cytoplasmic expression of S100A4 was observed in 30 out of 47 specimens of OSCC (64%). Overexpression of S100A4 was significantly associated with the clinical stage, lymph node involvement, metastases, pattern of invasion and recurrence (

Hierarchical fusion using vector quantization for visualization of hyperspectral images

Visualization of hyperspectral images that combines the data from multiple sensors is a major challenge due to huge data set. An efficient image fusion could be a primary key step for this task. To make the approach computationally efficient and to accommodate a large number of image bands, we propose a hierarchical fusion based on vector quantization and bilateral filtering. The consecutive image bands in the hyperspectral data cube exhibit a high degree of feature similarity among them due to the contiguous and narrow nature of the hyperspectral sensors. Exploiting this redundancy in the data, we fuse neighboring images at every level of hierarchy. As at the first level, the redundancy between the images is very high we use a powerful compression tool, vector quantization, to fuse each group. From second level onwards, each group is fused using bilateral filtering. While vector quantization removes redundancy, bilateral filter retains even the minor details that exist in individual image. The hierarchical fusion scheme helps in accommodating a large number of hyperspectral image bands. It also facilitates the midband visualization of a subset of the hyperspectral image cube. Quantitative performance analysis shows the effectiveness of the proposed method

Biofuel Production Using Marine Microbes

One of the greatest challenges for world in the twenty-first century is to meet the growing demand for energy for transportation, heating and industrial processes and to provide raw material for the industry in a sustainable way. Today, ethanol is being promoted as a clean and renewable fuel that will reduce global warming, air pollution and reliance on diminishing gasoline. In the present study conversion of agricultural residue such as wood powder, corn stalk, paddy straw, ragi stalk, millet stalk and sugarcane stalk in to ethanol production was aimed by two processes. 1. Hydrolysis of cellulosed in lignocellulosic materials to fermentable reducing sugars using cellulolytic marine bacteria and 2. Fermentation of the sugars to ethanol using marine yeast. Among the 15 potential cellulase producers isolated, 3 strains namely Klebsiella ozeanae, Pseudomonas aerugionsa and Enterobacter cloacae were found to be the most potent strains. Growth optimization study revealed that K. ozeanae preferred pH: 7, temperature: 35oC, salinity: 3% and 30 hours of incubation period as optimum for maximum growth. Whereas for P. aeruginosa the optimum growth conditions were pH: 8, temperature: 35oC, Salinity: 2% and 36 hours incubation period. Likewise for E. cloacae it was pH: 7, temperature: 35oC, Salinity: 2% and 36 hours incubation period. All the strains preferred cellulose as the most preferable substrate for the cellulase production at which 271, 263 and 231 U/ml/min. of enzyme activity was observed for K. ozeanae, P. arurginosa and E. cloacae respectively. Among the nitrogen sources yeast extract showed maximum enzyme activity in the above strains respectively of 282, 275 and 263 U/ml/min. in mass scale production with 1% cellulose as carbon source and 1% yeast extract as nitrogen source resulted in 293, 280 and 264 U/ml/min. enzyme activity was observer for K. ozeanae, P. aeruginosa and E. cloacae respectively. It was interesting to note that with cheaper substrate (wood powder) also almost equal amount of enzyme production was observed. When all three strains were used as a consortium at optimum growth conditions such as pH-7, temperature-35oC, salinity -2%, 30 hrs incubation period in an anaerobic condition 11% of ethanol production was observed which was found to be highest ever reported. These wild strains as such cane be used for industrial ethanol production.Keywords: Microbs, biofuel, Hydrolysis, Fermentatio