Side effects of phenobarbital and carbamazepine in childhood epilepsy: randomised controlled trial

Objective: To compare the behavioural side effects associated with two commonly used antiepilepsy drugs--phenobarbital and carbamazepine--in children in Bangladesh. Design: Prospective randomised controlled single centre trial. Setting: Specialist children's hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Participants: 108 children aged 2-15 with generalised tonic-clonic (n=51) or partial and secondary generalised seizures (n=57). Main outcome measures: Seizure control and behavioural side effects. Results: 91 children were followed up for 12 months. Six required a change of antiepilepsy drug. Side effects were compared in 85 children. In the last quarter of the 12 month follow-up, 71 children were seizure free after one year's treatment. Thirty two in the phenobarbital group and 39 in the carbamazepine group had no seizures in 74 and 102 days after randomisation, respectively. Ten children had increased behavioural problems, which were unacceptable in four (one in the phenobarbital group and three in the carbamazepine group). Independent t tests, however, showed no difference between the two trial drugs. Conclusion: There was no excess in behavioural side effects with phenobarbital in children with epilepsy in a country with limited resources

Seamless Handover of Video Streamingin 4G Wireless Network

This paper presents QoS aware seamless vertical handover system for video streaming over wireless network. When the user is moving, the signal strength varies which may resultin buffering of the video. Various modulation techniques are used for continuous streaming of video and to resolve this issue. OFDM technique is used for multi carrier transmission with modulation formats such as BPSK and 16QAM.The system modulator switches between the two modulation schemes depending upon the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).In order to achieve continuous streaming of video the video is compressed at the time of handover. Experimental results shows that the performance of the system is better

A rare case of uterine myxoid leiomyosarcoma

Myxoid leiomyosarcoma is an uncommon tumour and in most cases, it is recognised only after the surgery. A 65 years old female patient got admitted at our hospital with history of rapidly growing abdominal mass with pain in abdomen since last 3 months. During abdominal examination 32 weeks huge mass was noted and on prevaginal examination mass couldn’t be separated from uterus. LDH was elevated, USG suggestive of vascular tumour of with neoplastic etiology of ovarain origin. CECT was done and findings suggestive of uterine adenocarcinoma with peritoneal carcinomatosis. Exploratory laparotomy with total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salphingoopherectomy with omentectomy with debulking surgery was performed. HPR reports suggestive of myxoid leiomyosarcoma with mitotic index of 10 with tumour cell necrosis suggestive of poor prognosis. Post-operative period patient had developed sudden myocardial infarction and shifted to ICU where she died due to ventricular fibrillation.

Evaluations of Thinning Algorithms for Preprocessing of Handwritten Characters

Thinning algorithms have played an important role in preprocessing phase which decides the success of recognition in the OCR system. This paper report on the performance of 11 thinning algorithms from the perspective of character recognition where different aspects of the performance of each algorithm like computing time, deviation from perfect 8-connectedness, and number of possible noise spurs present in the skeletons are considered

Sequential extraction of proanthocyanidin fractions from Ficus species and their effects on rumen enzyme activities in vitro

Three proanthocyanidin fractions per species were sequentially extracted by 50% (v/v) methanol–water, 70% (v/v) acetone–water, and distilled water from leaves of Ficus racemosa (fractions FR) and F. religiosa (fractions FRL) to yield fractions FR-50, FR-70, FR-DW, FRL-50, FRL-70, and FRL-DW. Fractions were examined for their molecular structure, effect on ruminal enzyme activities, and principal leaf protein (Rubisco) solubilization in vitro. All fractions except FRL-70 contained flavonoids including (+) catechin, (−) epicatechin, (+) gallocatechin, (−) epigallocatechin, and their -4-phloroglucinol adducts. The fractions FRL-50 and FRL-DW significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited the activity of ruminal glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase and glutamic pyruvic transaminase. All fractions inhibited glutamate dehydrogenase activity (p < 0.05) with increasing concentration, while protease activity decreased 15–18% with increasing concentrations. Fractions FRL-50 and FRL-DW completely inhibited the activity of cellulase enzymes. Solubilization of Rubisco was higher in F. religiosa (22.36 ± 1.24%) and F. racemosa (17.26 ± 0.61%) than that of wheat straw (WS) (8.95 ± 0.95%) and berseem hay (BH) (3.04 ± 0.08%). A significant (p < 0.05) increase in protein solubilization was observed when WS and BH were supplemented with FR and FRL leaves at different proportions. The efficiency of microbial protein was significantly (p < 0.05) greater in diets consisting of WS and BH with supplementation of F. racemosa leaves in comparison to those supplemented with F. religiosa leaves. The overall conclusion is that the fractions extracted from F. religiosa showed greater inhibitory effects on rumen enzymes and recorded higher protein solubilization in comparison to the F. racemosa. Thus, PAs from F. religiosa are potential candidates to manipulate rumen enzymes activities for efficient utilization of protein and fiber in ruminants

DEVELOPMENT OF A DEVICE TO MEASURE THE BLADE TIP CLEARANCE OF AN AXIAL COMPRESSOR

Axial compressors, used in gas turbines, jet engines and also small scale power plants, are rotating, airfoil based compressors in which the working fluid flows parallel to the axis of rotation. There has been continuous struggle to maximize the efficiency of these compressors. One of the many ways to achieve the same is to minimize the tip clearance i.e. to reduce the distance between the blade tip and the housing. Experiments need to be conducted to measure the changes in the tip clearance while the  compressor is operating. Conventional devices to measure this tip clearance have proven to be costly if a small scale application is under consideration. Our aim in this project is to develop a device which will measure the blade tip clearance of an axial flow compressor economically. The literature review, development of the device, its working and results will be discussed in this paper

Proanthocyanidins modulate rumen enzyme activities and protein utilization In Vitro

This study investigated the principal leaf protein (rubisco) solubilization and in vitro ruminal enzyme activity in relation to the molecular structure of proanthocyanidins extracted from leaves of Anogeissus pendula and Eugenia jambolana. Six proanthocyanidin fractions were extracted by 50% (v/v) methanol–water followed by 70% (v/v) acetone–water and then distilled water from leaves of A. pendula (AP) and E. jambolana (EJ) to yield EJ–70, EJ–50, EJ–DW, AP–70, AP–50 and AP–DW. Fractions were examined for their molecular structure and their effects on sheep ruminal enzymes and solubilization of rubisco in vitro. All fractions significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited the activity of ruminal glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase and glutamic pyruvic transaminase. The fractions AP–50 and EJ–50 significantly inhibited the activity of the R-cellulase enzyme. Most of the fractions inhibited R-glutamate dehydrogenase activity (p < 0.05) by increasing its concentration, while protease activity decreased by up to 58% with increasing incubation time and concentration. The solubilization of rubisco was observed to be comparatively higher in A. pendula (16.60 ± 1.97%) and E. jambolana (15.03 ± 1.06%) than that of wheat straw (8.95 ± 0.95%) and berseem hay (3.04 ± 0.08%). A significant (p < 0.05) increase in protein solubilization was observed when wheat straw and berseem hay were supplemented with A. pendula and E. jambolana leaves at different proportions. The efficiency of microbial protein was significantly (p < 0.05) greater with the supplementation of leaves of A. pendula in comparison to E. jambolana. The overall conclusion is that the proanthocyanidins obtained from E. jambolana exhibited greater inhibitory activities on rumen enzymes, whereas A. pendula recorded higher protein solubilization. Thus, PAs from A. pendula and E. jambolana appear to have the potential to manipulate rumen enzyme activities for efficient utilization of protein and fiber in ruminants

Nonlinear Maxwell modelling of inverse relaxation in yarns and fabrics

An attempt has been made to fit the derived equation on the experimental inverse relaxation curves by employing Levenberg-Marquardt’s method for nonlinear regression and calculation of the constant values involved in the equation. The relaxation curves can be classified into ordinary relaxation, mixed relaxation and inverse relaxation curves. There seems to be good concurrence between the experimental and the fitted inverse relaxation curves

A Quantitative Systems Approach Reveals Dynamic Control of tRNA Modifications during Cellular Stress

Decades of study have revealed more than 100 ribonucleoside structures incorporated as post-transcriptional modifications mainly in tRNA and rRNA, yet the larger functional dynamics of this conserved system are unclear. To this end, we developed a highly precise mass spectrometric method to quantify tRNA modifications in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Our approach revealed several novel biosynthetic pathways for RNA modifications and led to the discovery of signature changes in the spectrum of tRNA modifications in the damage response to mechanistically different toxicants. This is illustrated with the RNA modifications Cm, m[superscript 5]C, and m[superscript 2][subscript 2]G, which increase following hydrogen peroxide exposure but decrease or are unaffected by exposure to methylmethane sulfonate, arsenite, and hypochlorite. Cytotoxic hypersensitivity to hydrogen peroxide is conferred by loss of enzymes catalyzing the formation of Cm, m[superscript 5]C, and m[superscript 2][subscript 2]G, which demonstrates that tRNA modifications are critical features of the cellular stress response. The results of our study support a general model of dynamic control of tRNA modifications in cellular response pathways and add to the growing repertoire of mechanisms controlling translational responses in cells.National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ES002109)National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ES017010)National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ES015037)National Cancer Institute (U.S.) (CA026731)National Center for Research Resources (U.S.) (RR023783)Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technolog