Enhancing Melatonin Secretion: The Methodical Consumption of Tryptophan from Whole Cow’s Milk to Regulate Sleep Quality in Individuals Aged 18-30 with Delayed Sleep-Wake Phase Disorder

Young adults in the United States are increasingly affected by DSPD (delayed sleep-wake phase disorder), a circadian rhythm disorder that delays evening sleep and morning wake times. Although medicinal supplements have shown to produce effective results on sleep induction, they come with unwanted side-effects. A review of the literature on clinical nutrition and endocrinology suggests that dietary alterations through the timed consumption of tryptophan-abundant whole cow’s milk could be a supplemental means of improving sleep quality. Studies on chrono nutrition indicate that dietary components absorbed by the bloodstream can change the circadian schedule of melatonin secretion from the pineal gland, and the timed consumption of tryptophan through one cup of milk can consequently spike melatonin levels before a DSPD patient’s desired sleep time. This MILC treatment may decrease the patient’s morning sleepiness on the basis that disordered, high-stressed, and sleep deprived individuals are susceptible to minimal changes in hormones because their bodies naturally attempt to attain homeostatic equilibrium. The correlation between chrono-nutrition and dietary effectiveness is a novel idea, and testing is needed to quantify the optimal timings and ranges of dietary intake that can produce a significant effect on the sleep schedule of a DSPD patient

Nanofabrication of halloysite-PCL composite scaffolds and functionalization of titanium for tissue regeneration

Major medical needs may be achieved through regenerative medicine. Nanotechnology has triggered a research revolution in many important areas such as the biomedical sciences and bioengineering at the molecular level which has grown significantly due to the availability of new analytical applications and tools based on nanotechnology. Clinical conditions and diseases being targeted by nanotechnology research include burns, Alzheimer\u27s and Parkinson\u27s disease, implant failure, improved wound healing, birth defects, osteoporosis and congestive heart defects. Therapeutic use of growth factors and drugs to stimulate the production and/or function of endogenous cells represents a key area of regenerative medicine. The development of methods to expand ex vivo and drug delivery through advances in cell culture and scaffold technology have led to successful new treatment modalities for bone and wound repair. The studies in this dissertation focused on several regenerative medicine approaches, with a future goal of an implantable scaffold material that can efficiently act as a repair material for wound healing and repair or as a replacement material for bones, teeth and other tissues. In this study, two different materials were nanoengineered for regenerative medicine applications. Anodization was used to produce nanoporous titanium scaffolds. Electrospinning was used to form Poly (ϵ-caprolactone) (PCL) scaffolds, halloysite-PCL composite scaffolds and drug loaded halloysite-PCL scaffolds. Cellular response was assessed in each study through cell-based assays, including the PicoGreen DNA assay, the Coomassie Plus total protein assay, and the Alizarin Red mineralization assay. Cell characterization methods were used to measure the potential of these nanoengineered materials to enhance cell proliferation, functionality, tissue formation and mineralization. The results from the cell characterization assays suggest nanoporous titanium and the type I collagen coated halloysite-PCL scaffold both hold promise for bone tissue engineering and aiding in wound repair. Nanoporous titanium surfaces supported cell growth, cell differentiation and mineralization and are more biologically supportive compared to smooth titanium. The incorporation of HNTs up to 7wt%, within the PCL-scaffold did not extensively change the morphology of the PCL scaffold. Scanning electron microscopy and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) labeling of halloysites indicated the nanotubes were not incorporated into PCL fibers but clustered together to form a ball-like structure that also linked adjacent fibers producing a complex, mesh-like (and extracellular matrix-like) composite scaffold. Type I collagen coated halloysite-PCL scaffold produced higher cell proliferation rates, increased protein synthesis and enhanced mineralization in comparison with halloysite-PCL and PCL only scaffolds. In a companion study, hallyosite-loaded scaffolds containing more than one drug were created. Sustained release of Brilliant Green was achieved from both drug loaded PCL scaffolds and the drug loaded halloysite-PCL scaffold. This data supports the conclusion that drug loaded halloysite-PCL scaffolds may be a novel, biodegradable material for wound healing, producing anti-bacterial materials, or enhanced tissue bandages

Improving Map Reduce Performance in Heterogeneous Distributed System using HDFS Environment-A Review

Hadoop is a Java-based programming framework which supports for storing and processing big data in a distributed computing environment. It is using HDFS for data storing and using Map Reduce to processing that data. Map Reduce has become an important distributed processing model for large-scale data-intensive applications like data mining and web indexing. Map Reduce is widely used for short jobs requiring low response time. The current Hadoop implementation assumes that computing nodes in a cluster are homogeneous in nature. Unfortunately, both the homogeneity and data locality assumptions are not satisfied in virtualized data centers. Hadoop’s scheduler can cause severe performance degradation in heterogeneous environments. We observe that, Longest Approximate Time to End (LATE), which is highly robust to heterogeneity. LATE can improve Hadoop response times by a factor of 2 in clusters. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.15030

Characteristic and trends of malaria in Surat district of Gujarat: a hospital based study

Background: Malaria is a major health problem and infects many individuals despite of various efforts to control it. The present study was aimed to observe characteristics of malaria, seasonal variation and prevalence of malaria in our region.Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in our institute from period of January 2012 to December 2012.  All the fever cases undergone investigations for malarial parasites were included in present study for defined time period.  All the laboratory data of the patients having fever were retrieved from the Pathology Laboratory of our institute.Results: out of total 32674 reports studied 4907(15.01%) were positive for malaria with overall Slide positivity rate and slide falciparum rate were 15.01% and 38.29% respectively. Incidence of malaria occurs throughout year with increased incidence of P. falciparum in monsoon.Conclusion: In the present study incidence of malaria was higher in monsoon in comparison to other seasons. But throughout the year no declining trends in incidence of malaria was observed. P. vivax malaria was more commonly observed in our study but incidence of P. falciparum increased in monsoon

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF FIRST ORDER DERIVATIVE SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC METHOD FOR SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATION OF PARACETAMOL AND TAPENTADOL HYDROCHLORIDE IN TABLET DOSAGE FORM

A simple, precise, accurate and reproducible spectrophotometric method has been developed forSimultaneous estimation of Paracetamol and Tapentadol Hydrochloride by employing first order derivativezero crossing method in 0.1 N Sodium Hydroxide. The first order derivative absorption at 257.1 nm (zerocross point of Paracetamol) was used for quantification of Tapentadol HCl and 289.0 nm (zero cross point ofTapentadol HCl) for quantification of Paracetamol. The linearity was established over the concentrationrange of 15-3

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF PILOT-AIDED MIMO-OFDM LTE DOWNLINK SYSTEM USING HYBRID LS-LMMSE TECHNIQUE

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the channel estimation in OFDM system and it implemented by using pilot type channel estimation by hybrid LS-LMMSE. A LTE system is basically MIMO-OFDM system, where a cyclic prefix is inserted at the beginning of each OFDM symbol in order to suppress both inter-carrier interference (ICI) and inter symbol interference (ISI). The inserted CP is usually longer or equal to the channel length but in some cases, the CP can be shorter. In case of LS and LMMSE channel estimation technique, simulation results shows that LMMSE performs better than LS estimator where cyclic prefix is equal to or longer than the channel length. In other case, LMMSE gives better performance than LS only for low SNR values and for high SNR value, LS gives better performance. Therefore, a hybrid LS-LMMSE channel estimation technique is to reduce the effect of the channel length on system. Simulation results for hybrid system shows its true efficiency and specially for the case where the channel length exceeds the cyclic prefix length

‘Blood in pee’ campaign: Increased demand on secondary care with no change in cancers diagnosed

Objective:As part of the national Be Clear on Cancer campaign, the ‘blood in pee’ campaign was launched in 2013. We aimed to evaluate the impact of the campaign on 2-week wait (2WW) referrals and the resulting diagnoses of malignancy at a single trust, and secondly, to evaluate the socio-economic background of patients referred.Patients and methods:Suspected cancer 2WW patients in the 3 months pre- and post-campaign were included. Demographics, investigations and diagnoses were recorded. A Kolmogorov–Smirnov test demonstrated a normal distribution. The data were treated as parametric and analysed with the unpaired Student’s t-test.Results:Referrals for visible haematuria significantly increased by 52% from 135 pre-campaign to 205 post-campaign (p = 0.03). There was a fall in the proportion of patients diagnosed with malignancy from 20.27% pre-campaign to 15.36% post-campaign. The mean index of multiple deprivation score of referrals did not change: p = 0.43.Conclusion:This campaign has increased referrals without increasing the proportion of malignancies diagnosed, placing large demand on services without benefit or extra funding. Nor has the campaign effectively reached deprived socio-economic groups. There is little evidence as to the efficacy of untargeted cancer awareness campaigns and further work is needed to improve their pick-up of malignancies

Comparison of the Amount of Temperature Rise in the Pulp Chamber of Teeth Treated with QTH, Second and Third Generation LED Light Curing Units: An In Vitro Study

Introduction: This in vitro study was designed to measure and compare the amount of temperature rise in the pulp chamber of the teeth exposed to different light curing units (LCU), which are being used for curing composite restorations.Methods: The study was performed in two settings; first, an in vitro and second was mimicking an in vivo situation. In the first setup of the study, three groups were formed according to the respective three light curing sources. i.e. Quartz-Tungsten-Halogen (QTH) unit and two light-emitting diode (LED) units (second and third generations). In the in vitro setting, direct thermal emission from three light sources at 3 mm and 6 mm distances, was measured with a k-type thermocouple, and connected to a digital thermometer. For a simulation of an in vivo situation, 30 premolar teeth were used. Class I Occlusal cavity of all the teeth [RM1] were prepared and they were restored with incremental curing of composite, after bonding agent application. While curing the bonding agent and composite in layers, the intrapulpal temperature rise was simultaneously measured with a k-type thermocouple.Results: The first setting of the study showed that the heat produced by irradiation with LCU was significantly less at 6 mm distance when compared to 3 mm distance. The second setting of the study showed that the rise of intrapulpal temperature was significantly less with third generation LED light cure units than with second generation LED and QTH light cure units.Conclusion: As the distance from the light source increases, less irradiation heat is produced. Third generation LED lights cause the least temperature change in the pulp chamber of single rooted teeth.

Design and synthesis of novel s-triazine based coumarin, quinoline, morpholine and isoniazid derivatives and their antitubercular and antimicrobial evaluation

285-292This study presents the synthesis of novel s-triazine derivatives. The synthetic route to final s-triazines consists of two nucleophilic substitution reactions of 4-hydroxy benzonitrile and 8-hydroxyquinoline or 8-hydroxy-7-methyl coumarin or isoniazid or morpholine with 2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazine resulting in 2,4-disubstituted-6-chloro-1,3,5-triazine derivatives to introduce the various amines functionality. The structures of the compounds have been elucidated with the aid of IR, 1H and 13C NMR, mass spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The title compounds have then been investigated for their in vitro antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv strain by using BACTEC MGIT and Lowenstein-Jensen MIC method and antimicrobial evaluation