Maximum Likelihood Decoder for Index Coded PSK Modulation for Priority Ordered Receivers

Index coded PSK modulation over an AWGN broadcast channel, for a given index coding problem (ICP) is studied. For a chosen index code and an arbitrary mapping (of broadcast vectors to PSK signal points), we have derived a decision rule for the maximum likelihood (ML) decoder. The message error performance of a receiver at high SNR is characterized by a parameter called PSK Index Coding Gain (PSK-ICG). The PSK-ICG of a receiver is determined by a metric called minimum inter-set distance. For a given ICP with an order of priority among the receivers, and a chosen $2^N$-PSK constellation we propose an algorithm to find (index code, mapping) pairs, each of which gives the best performance in terms of PSK-ICG of the receivers. No other pair of index code (of length $N$ with $2^N$ broadcast vectors) and mapping can give a better PSK-ICG for the highest priority receiver. Also, given that the highest priority receiver achieves its best performance, the next highest priority receiver achieves its maximum gain possible and so on in the specified order or priority.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures and 2 table

STUDY ON THE ANTIMICROBIAL EFFICACY OF HAND SANITIZERS DEVELOPED BY THE PHARMACEUTICAL CORPORATION (I.M) KERALA LTD (OUSHADHI)

Hand sanitizers are used to ensure hygiene in the absence of hand washing facilities or where frequent sanitizing is required especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Handsanitizers using different combinations were prepared at Oushadhi using WHO recommendations and also to promote Kerala Government’s initiative of break the chain campaign. The campaign was launched on 15th March 2020 and it aims to cut down the progress of disease transmission. The efficacy of the batches of sanitizers prepared was tested against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. They were also tested against common air and water contaminants found in the premises which would be of more significance to the general workforce. The susceptibility test was performed by agar well diffusion method and it revealed that the antimicrobial efficacy of the prepared hand sanitizer Batch III with Cymbopogon citratus oil was the most effective among the three combinations. A hedonic sensory evaluation was carried out for better consumer acceptability

CASE STUDY ON BETA BLOCKERS INDUCED PSORIASIS

Drug-induced Psoriasis is one among the common etiological factors of Psoriasis reported worldwide. Familiar drugs known to cause psoriasiform eruptions include Anti-malarials, Beta blockers, NSAIDs, Lithium. etc. Certain antihypertensives like ACE inhibitors, diuretics are also documented to have caused psoriatic episodes. A 57 y old South-Indian male patient with a history of Hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus, Atrial Fibrillation for 4 y; was on antihypertensive therapy for Hypertension and Atrial Fibrillation with proponolol for past 2 y and metoprolol initially. He was presented to the hospital two weeks after switching on to Metoprolol therapy for chief complaints of erythematous scaly lesions especially over both the extremities and paronydrial appearance of nails. Initially, he was on Propranolol therapy which was then shifted to Metoprolol due to an appearance of oral lesions in the mouth. Metoprolol was now discontinued and switched on to Atenolol. After 1-2 w of therapy with Atenolol, the lesions were found to disappear and no recurrence of psoriatic conditions were found. Proper reviewing of medical history for any allergic reactions and the optimization of drug therapy through Therapeutic Drug Monitoring could be initiated by Clinical Pharmacist in order to avoid such drug-induced flares

FPGA-Based Portable Ultrasound Scanning System with Automatic Kidney Detection

Bedsides diagnosis using portable ultrasound scanning (PUS) offering comfortable diagnosis with various clinical advantages, in general, ultrasound scanners suffer from a poor signal-to-noise ratio, and physicians who operate the device at point-of-care may not be adequately trained to perform high level diagnosis. Such scenarios can be eradicated by incorporating ambient intelligence in PUS. In this paper, we propose an architecture for a PUS system, whose abilities include automated kidney detection in real time. Automated kidney detection is performed by training the Viola–Jones algorithm with a good set of kidney data consisting of diversified shapes and sizes. It is observed that the kidney detection algorithm delivers very good performance in terms of detection accuracy. The proposed PUS with kidney detection algorithm is implemented on a single Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA, integrated with a Raspberry Pi ARM processor running at 900 MHz

Phaeohyphomycosis Masquerading As Epidermal Cyst – A Diagnostic Dilemma in Immunocompetent Hosts and Review of Literature

Phaeohyphomycosis is caused by a rare dematiaceous, pigmented, mycelia forming fungi. It is an opportunistic fungal infection in immunocompromised hosts. It can present with varied clinical manifestations, as subcutaneous infection to widespread fulminant disseminated disease. Here we present three cases of subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis in immunocompetent hosts at unusual site – popliteal fossa, great toe and sole of the foot. Awareness of unusual clinical presentation of Phaeohyphomycosis can lead to early diagnosis which may help in prevention of wide spread dissemination of disease and fatal outcome

Lizardfish fishery of Kerala with some aspects of the stock characteristics of the greater lizardfish Saurida tumbil (Bloch, 1795)

The fishery of lizardfishes and population dynamics of the dominant species Saurida tumbil landed in Kerala by mechanised trawlers were studied for the period 2007-2011. Annual landings of lizardfishes in Kerala during the period ranged between 6,715 to 10,600 t with an average annual landing of 8,992 t, which formed 5.2% of the total landings of the state. The seasonal peak in catch was recorded during August – October. Three species contributed to the lizardfish fishery of Kerala, of which, S. tumbil formed 59%. The overall sex ratio of S. tumbil was 1:1.2 with mature females encountered in most months with a peak during September – November. The von Bertalanffy growth parameters (VBGF) estimated using ELEFAN were L∞ = 517.0 mm, K = 0.40 year-1 and t0 = -0.1879. The length attained at the end of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years were 195.5, 301.5, 372.6, 420.2 and 452.1 mm, respectively. Recruitment was round the year with peaks during May-June and October-November accounting for 55% of the total recruitment. The average instantaneous rate of total, natural and fishing mortalities were 1.34, 0.44 and 0.90 respectively. The length at first capture was 285 mm at which the age works out to be 1.6 years. The optimum length for exploitation (Lopt) was 378 mm at the age (topt) of 3.1 years. Mean size in the catch was lower than optimum size for exploitation; which necessitates caution to increase the minimum mesh size from the present level. The resource is being exploited at a level (E = 0.67) almost equal to the maximum exploitation (Emax = 0.69), indicating overexploitation of the resource. As the annual average yield is 33% higher than the MSY estimated, there is a need for reducing the fishing effort to sustain the fishery

Recent trends in the mobulid fishery in Indian waters

Mobulidae are zooplanktivorous elasmobranchs, found circumglobally in tropical, subtropical and temperate coastal waters. It comprises of two recognized species of manta rays (Manta spp.) and nine recognized species of devil rays (Mobula spp.). Although the reports of mobulid fishery in India were only from 1960s, however it was commercially exploited only after 2007 for their valuable gillrakers. Mobula diabolus, M. tarpacana, M. japonica, M. kuhlii, M. thurstoni, Manta birostris and M. alfredi are the seven species which contributes to mobulid fishery. White gilled Mobula tarpacana is highly targeted for its high priced gill raker which fetches upto Rs. 8,000 kg-1 in dry weight. Few mobulid species has already reached the IUCN Red List status. Thorough monitoring of mobulid fish exploitation level is essential in India. It is necessary to ensure standardized sampling and modelling methodologies to estimate the stock position of these fishes from Indian waters

Distribution, diversity, length-weight relationship and recruitment pattern of deep-sea finfishes and shellfishes in the shelf-break area off southwest Indian EEZ

The results of an exclusive fishing cruise, No. 241, undertaken by FORV Sayar Sampada (Ministry of Earth Sciences) during January-February 2006, in the shelf-break area (500-1000m depth) in the southwest region of Indian EEZ (Lat.Q-16" and Long. 72"-75"46) are presented. Bottom trawling was conducted at 33 stations. A total catch of 1795 kg was realised, out of which the discards formed 31 1 kg. A variety of non-conventional finfishes (77 species) and shellfishes (shrimps 8 species, crabs 3 species, one species of lobsterette) have been recorded. Depth-wise 235m zone indicated the maximum catch. The total catch during the entire cruise was dominated by Psenopsis ryanra. The various population parameters such as La, K, total mortality (Z), natural mortality (M), fishing mortality (F), exploitation ratio (E), recruitment pattern and length-weight relationship of some of the important species have been worked out. In most of the deep-sea fishes, the recruitment appeared to take place almost throughout the year and showed great similarity among the various species except Luciobrotula bartschi. Presently, all these resources remain unexploited, except the shrimps. The trawlers based at Cochin, Quilon and Munambam have been exploiting the deep-sea shrimp resources like the red-ring Arbreus alcocki from the Quilon Bank and other similar areas of< west coast for the last five years. Interestingly Psenopsis cyanea has been found to occur as bye-catch in these fishing operations. Therefore, these two species showed higher fishing mortality compared to practically nil value in other finfishes and shellfishes. The occurrence of the deep-sea glass sponge, Hyalonema sp. off Mangalore is also reported. Bio-silica, extracted from this sponge, has a vide range of applications in the medical field from novel biomaterials for bone replacements to the stabilization of tissue. Most of the resources being nonconventional there is need to evolve new processing methods, product diversification and develop export avenues to make deep-sea fishing venture a success. Inventorisation of the deep-sea biodiversity and preparation of fishery atlas also merit serious consideration

Unusual landing of the spotted ocean triggerfish Canthidermis maculata at Cochin Fisheries Harbour

Unusual landing of the ocean triggerfish Canthidermis maculata (Family: Balistidae) was observed at Cochin Fisheries Harbour (CFH) on 11th January 2013 (Fig 1a & b). About 300 kg of fishes were landed in gillnet operated off Cochin at a depth of 20- 30 m. The species is occasionally seen in stray numbers in trawl landings at CFH and this is for the first time a landing of this magnitude is observed at CFH. The fishes were sold at the landing centre @ ` 30 – 40/- per kg for local consumption

The chemopreventive polyphenol Curcumin prevents hematogenous breast cancer metastases in immunodeficient mice

Dissemination of metastatic cells probably occurs long before diagnosis of the primary tumor. Metastasis during early phases of carcinogenesis in high risk patients is therefore a potential prevention target. The plant polyphenol Curcumin has been proposed for dietary prevention of cancer. We therefore examined its effects on the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 in vitro and in a mouse metastasis model. Curcumin strongly induces apoptosis in MDA- MB- 231 cells in correlation with reduced activation of the survival pathway NF kappa B, as a consequence of diminished I kappa B and p65 phosphorylation. Curcumin also reduces the expression of major matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) due to reduced NF kappa B activity and transcriptional downregulation of AP-1. NF kappa B/p65 silencing is sufficient to downregulate c-jun and MMP expression. Reduced NF kappa B/AP-1 activity and MMP expression lead to diminished invasion through a reconstituted basement membrane and to a significantly lower number of lung metastases in immunodeficient mice after intercardiac injection of 231 cells (p=0.0035). 68% of Curcumin treated but only 17% of untreated animals showed no or very few lung metastases, most likely as a consequence of down-regulation of NF kappa B/AP-1 dependent MMP expression and direct apoptotic effects on circulating tumor cells but not on established metastases. Dietary chemoprevention of metastases appears therefore feasible. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel