Fungal keratitis

Sonal S TuliUniversity of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA  Clinical question: What is the most appropriate management of fungal keratitis?Results: Traditionally, topical Natamycin is the most commonly used medication for filamentous fungi while Amphotericin B is most commonly used for yeast. Voriconazole is rapidly becoming the drug of choice for all fungal keratitis because of its wide spectrum of coverage and increased penetration into the cornea.Implementation: Repeated debridement of the ulcer is recommended for the penetration of topical medications. While small, peripheral ulcers may be treated in the community, larger or central ulcers, especially if associated with signs suggestive of anterior chamber penetration should be referred to a tertiary center. Prolonged therapy for approximately four weeks is usually necessary.Keywords: fungal keratitis, keratomycosis, antifungal medications, debridemen

Emerging Dimensions of Women Entrepreneurship: Developments & Obstructions

Women entrepreneurship has been recognized as an important factor of economic development. Women entrepreneurs can originate new jobs for themselves and others. However, they still represent a minority of all entrepreneurs. Women is an essential part of key economic activities and for nation development. Women entrepreneurs often face gender-based barriers to starting and growing their businesses, like discriminatory property, matrimonial and inheritance laws and or cultural practices, lack of access to formal finance mechanisms, limited mobility and access to information and networks, etc. Women’s entrepreneurship can make a particularly strong contribution to the economic well-being of the family and communities, poverty reduction and women’s empowerment, thus contributing to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Thus, governments across the world as well as various developmental organizations are actively undertaking promotion of women entrepreneurs through various schemes, incentives and promotional measures

Social Determinants of Health, Telehealth, and HIV/AIDS: Implications for Public Health Research and Practice in the State of Virginia

Purpose: The purpose of this commentary is to assert the importance of addressing the social determinants of health to support HIV/AIDS control efforts, to describe the importance of telehealth in HIV/AIDS control, and to recommend courses of action to support HIV/AIDS control efforts within the state of Virginia. Discussion: We provide an overview of the social determinants of health and their role in HIV/AIDS control, telehealth and its uptake within the HIV/AIDS community, and issues in Virginia facing HIV/AIDS control. Conclusion and Recommendations: We conclude that addressing social determinants of health, especially stigma, is an important measure of HIV/AIDS control efforts. We recommend that telehealth be effectively leveraged to that end to support the containment of HIV and AIDS within the state of Virginia

Bit Error Rate Analysis in Multicast Multiple Input Multiple Output Systems

At the present time whole information and communication technology industry contributes to the global carbon emission. With the aim of reducing the carbon footprint and the operating cost of wireless networks, overall energy reduction is required in the region of two to three orders of magnitude. Meanwhile, significant increase of the network spectrum efficiency is needed to cope with the exponentially increasing traffic loads. Due to this factors spatial modulation (SM) has recently established itself as promising transmission concept which belongs to single-radio frequency large scale multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wireless system. Spatial modulation MIMO takes advantage of whole antenna array at the transmitter, while using limited number of radio frequency chains. The multiple input multiple output multiplies capacity by transmitting different signals over multiple antennas and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), which divides a radio channel into many closely spaced sub channels to provide more reliable communication at high speeds. The system calculate the bit error rate (BER) for multicast multiple input multiple output system with the spatial modulation (SM) and study the effect of signal to noise ratio on bit error rate. MATLAB software is use to simulate system. The simulation results show that bit error rate decreases as signal to noise ratio increases. System reaches zero bit error rate for the value of signal to noise ratio greater than 18dB. System has provided less bit error rate for large signal to noise ratio which improves system performance

A novel approach for Face Recognition using Local Binary Pattern

This paper presents Local Binary pattern (LBP) as an approach for face recognition with the use of some global features also. Face recognition has received quite a lot of attention from researchers in biometrics, pattern recognition, and computer vision communities. The idea behind using the LBP features is that the face images can be seen as composition of micro-patterns which are invariant with respect to monotonic grey scale transformations and robust to factors like ageing. Combining these micro-patterns, a global description of the face image is obtained. Efficiency and the simplicity of the proposed method allows for very fast feature extraction giving better accuracy than the other algorithms. The proposed method is tested and evaluated on ORL datasets combined with other university dataset to give a good recognition rate and 89% classification accuracy using LBP only and 98% when global features are combined with LBP. The method is also tested for real images to give good accuracy and recognition rate. The experimental results show that the method is valid and feasible

Analysis of Roller Unit Assembly of Calcination Drum

Solid waste management is posing a great problem as the population is increasing day by day. The municipal sewage waste has to be disposed properly otherwise it will lead to air pollution and cause the serious effects on the health of human beings. The most common practice adopted is generating methane from municipal solid waste. For this purpose it is necessary that the municipal solid waste which is sent for further processing should be in the form of homogenous mass. In order to form the homogenous mass it is necessary that it should be separated in degradable and non degradable. This degradable waste is then converted into fine particles. To achieve this task the engineers have designed a special instrument named Calcination Drum. Usually Calcination Drum is also known as Rotary Kilns. In primary stage when the Calcination Drum was implemented it was found that some problems were encountered. The main aim of this project is to solve the problems related to guide ring and support roller shaft of Calcination Drum. The shaft is redesigned by changing its material and considering all forces acting on it. Similarly the modified fabrication process is also suggested for guide ring. In this paper Analysis of roller shaft, roller and Calcination drum is carried out and the stress and deformation is found out in static and dynamic condition. For theoretical calculations of shaft the standard data is taken from design data book and for guide ring Hertz contact stress theory is used

Evaluation of serum hepcidin as a biochemical marker in diagnosis of anemia of chronic disease

Background: Anemia is a serious public health problem. It affects two billion people worldwide, particularly infants and young children mainly in developing countries where its etiology is multifactorial. Anemia in infancy is generally associated with impaired cognitive and behavioral development, impaired oxygen transport and a poorer prognosis in the context of many chronic diseases or chronic infections. The Present study aims to detect the serum hepcidin and ferritin levels in chronic disease anemia and correlate the values of serum hepcidin levels with their serum ferritin levels and IL-6 levels.Methods: A total of 86 individuals were enrolled in the study. Sample for hematological evaluations were collected and estimation was carried out for biomarker estimation by ELISA method(s) using specified kit(s) procured commercially. The statistical evaluation was done using SPSS version 24.0. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson's correlation tests were used to compare the variables and to see the correlation between the different variables.Results: In present study, we observed statistically significant lower values of RBC count, Hbgm/dl, MCV, MCH, MCHC in ACD group than the normal group. For serum hepcidin when ROC curves and Pearson’s scattered plot were made in case of ACD group; the ROC was recorded to be maximum >0.869; with a sensitivity of 84.62% and specificity 94.12% while the confidence level was 95% with an interval of 0.779 to 0.932. Further, the cutoff point determined was >72.93. Thus, the hepcidin level > 72ng/mL and above is related to the ACD. These cut off points had strong confidence interval and valuable predictive potential.Conclusions: Serum Hepcidin can be used as a simple and cost effective diagnostic marker for identification of anemia

Isolation, Identification and Characterization of Keratin degrading microorganisms from Poultry soil and their Feather degradation Potential

Keratinolytic microorganisms have a great importance in poultry waste degradation and its bioconversion to compost or animal feed. The aim of this study was to isolate keratin degrading bacteria and fungi from poultry farm soil, and to study their ability to degrade chicken feathers. The poultry farm soil samples were added in basal medium with feathers as a source of carbon and nitrogen. Five bacterial cultures were isolated. Bacteria were grown in basal media with feathers meal and showed feather degrading capacity. Bacterial strains were identified as Aeromicrobium spp., Exiguobacter spp., Marinococcus spp. and Bacillus spp. 1 Bacillus spp 2.These bacteria showed keratinolytic enzyme activity in the cell free culture supernatants. The highest biodegradation of feathers was obtained using Aeromicrobium (KD1-72.55%), among the isolated cultures. Two fungal cultures (F1 and F2) were also isolated by Hair Bait Technique, out of which F1 showed good keratinolytic activity. The good ability of selected microorganisms to degrade feathers can be utilized for their potential biotechnological application in processing of feather waste from poultry industry

OCT based evaluation of retinal changes in multiple sclerosis

Background: Optical coherence tomography is a non-invasive imaging technique routinely used in ophthalmology to visualize and quantify the layers of the retina. It also provides information on optic nerve head topography, peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness and macular volume which correlate with axonal loss. These measurements are of interest in optic neuropathies and in multiple sclerosis. The OCT parameters are now used as endpoints in neurologic clinical trials.Methods: A prospective study involving 30 patients of multiple sclerosis and equal number of age and sex matched controls were subjected to evaluation of retinal changes (peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer and central macular thickness) using Zeiss Cirrus HD-OCT machine. The results collected were then subjected to statistical analysis.Results: Significant RNFL thinning was seen in patients of multiple sclerosis compared to the age and sex matched controls. Marked thinning was seen in superior and temporal quadrants of right eye (p value of 0.002 and 0.008 respectively) and all quadrants in left eye with a p value of < 0.001. Patients with multiple sclerosis for more than 5 yrs showed statistically significant RNFL thinning in the superior quadrant of right eye (p<.005), however, no such changes were seen in rest of the quadrants of right eye and in none of the quadrants of left eye Significant RNFL thinning was seen in the patients of multiple sclerosis without prior history of optic neuritis than patients with prior history of optic neuritis which was statistically significant with p value of .001.Conclusions: Patients with multiple sclerosis for more than 5 yrs showed statistically significant RNFL thinning in the superior quadrant of right eye (p<.005). Significant RNFL thinning was seen in the patients of multiple sclerosis without prior history of optic neuritis than patients with prior history of Optic neuritis which was statistically significant with p value of .001. No significant changes were seen in central macular thickness in multiple sclerosis compared to the controls which was corroborated by statistical analysis (p value of 0.37)

Surgical Ophthalmic Oncology

Designed as an easy-to-use, practical guide to tumors of the eye, lids, and orbit, this open access book comprehensively addresses surgical treatment and management of diseases related to ophthalmic oncology. Surgical Ophthalmic Oncology: A Collaborative Open Access Reference is an ideal reference for general ophthalmologists, surgeons, fellows and trainees around the world who encounter these diseases in the care of their patients. Notably, this book includes considerations for those ophthalmologists offering subspecialty care in environments with limited access to advanced technology and instrumentation. Individual chapters address diagnostic indications, pre-operative and post-operative concerns, and provide detailed explanations of surgical techniques required to manage various eye cancer ailments with help of ample illustrations. High-quality videos included throughout the book provide readers with the opportunity to review surgical steps in real-time as a learning tool. Chapters thoroughly cover tumors of eyelid, cornea and conjunctiva, orbit as well as intraocular tumors, while later chapters discuss ophthalmic radiation therapy. The book concludes with a section on ophthalmic pathology which details essential guidelines on relevant aspects from specimen collection and transport, to interpretation of the pathology report. Surgical Ophthalmic Oncology: A Collaborative Open Access Reference is a unique and necessary valuable resource for ophthalmologists, trainees, and related medical professionals working in underserved areas in providing quality care for patients suffering from ocular cancers