Information Seeking Behaviour of Students at Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology (Deemed University), Longowal (Punjab)

The present study explores  information seeking habits of students of Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology (DeemedUniversity) [Estab. By Government ofIndia], Longowal,Punjab.  150 questionnaires were distributed among students who are using the library of the Institute. 100% response was received from Library users

Influence of Microwave and Ultrasound pretreatment on Solvent Extraction of Bio-components from Walnut (Julgans regia L.) Shells

Walnut (Julgans regia L.) shells, an agro-forestry waste, are a rich source of phytochemicals with anti-oxidative and medicinal properties. Whilst recent research efforts focus on waste valorization, the present investigation demonstrates a process to extract and characterize bio-components from physically pretreated walnut shells. Pretreatment was undertaken using microwave irradiation and ultra-sonication with two different solvents (methanol and acetone). The extract obtained was optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Further, the bio-components in the extract were identified using GCMS and FTIR analyses. Through the experimental runs, it was observed that pretreatment enhanced the total extract yield from the process relative to conventional Soxhlet extraction. As a method of pretreatment, microwave irradiation was found to suit the extraction better than ultra-sonication. In addition, acetone performed better as a solvent than methanol in the bio-components recovery. Relative to conventional Soxhlet extraction, microwave pretreatment allowed for enhanced separation by 4.06 folds for methanol and 5.25 for acetone. The yield was found to be the highest (46 mg/g) while using acetone, when pretreated with microwaves at 180 W for 4 min

Effect of epidural volume extension with colloid on dose requirement for intrathecal spinal block: a double blind prospective study

Background: Epidural volume extension (EVE) is a modification of combined- spinal epidural anaesthesia (CSEA) in which fluid is injected in epidural space after the intrathecal block. Fluid in epidural space compress subarachnoid space and causes cephalic spread of intrathecal drug to increase block height. Purpose of study is to determine efficacy of EVE on dose requirement of intrathecal bupivacaine when colloid was used for EVE.Methods: Sixty patients of ASA physical status I or II, scheduled for elective caesarean sections were recruited and randomized into two groups (30 each group). Group 1: CSEA in which spinal block is followed by 10 ml Colloid (HES 6%) in epidural space; Group 2: CSEA but no fluid in epidural space. Onset of sensory block and hemodynamic variables were measured at 5 min. intervals up to 40 minutes then at 10 min. intervals till end of surgery. Ineffective block was top- up by epidural 0.5% bupivacaine in incremental doses.Results: Median effective dose of intrathecal bupivacaine was significantly lower, 4.0 mg (95% CI 4.40-5.60) in group 1 versus 7.0 mg (95% CI 6.93-7.61) in group 2. Only 11 patients required ephedrine in group 1 versus 20 in group 2. Requirement of ephedrine was significantly lower 2.20 (±2.94) mg in group 1 versus 4.0 (±2.88) mg groups 2. Changes in haemodynamic variables from baseline were significantly lower in group 1 than those in group 2.Conclusions: EVE with colloid was effective in lowering dose requirement of spinal bupivacaine while patients hemodynamically were more stable.

Hysteresis Loop Effect on Coronal Index and Solar Flare Index During Solar Cycles 22 and 23

The hysteresis loop effect on the solar activity as coronal index (CI) and solar flare index (SFI) over cosmic ray intensity (CRI) at the low cut-off rigidities neutron monitoring station Oulu on the monthly basis data for the period January 1, 1986 to December 31, 2008 has been studied. It is observed that the shape of the hysteresis loops is varying from solar cycle 22 to 23. The hysteresis loops for solar cycle 23 are broad ovals whereas for solar cycle 22 are nearly flat. A complementary feature of the cosmic ray intensity decreases more rapidly as the increase in solar activity (coronal index and solar flare index). The positive solar polar magnetic parameter (A>0) and negative solar polar magnetic parameter (A<0) is representing the hysteresis loops

RE-MOVE: An Adaptive Policy Design Approach for Dynamic Environments via Language-Based Feedback

Reinforcement learning-based policies for continuous control robotic navigation tasks often fail to adapt to changes in the environment during real-time deployment, which may result in catastrophic failures. To address this limitation, we propose a novel approach called RE-MOVE (\textbf{RE}quest help and \textbf{MOVE} on), which uses language-based feedback to adjust trained policies to real-time changes in the environment. In this work, we enable the trained policy to decide \emph{when to ask for feedback} and \emph{how to incorporate feedback into trained policies}. RE-MOVE incorporates epistemic uncertainty to determine the optimal time to request feedback from humans and uses language-based feedback for real-time adaptation. We perform extensive synthetic and real-world evaluations to demonstrate the benefits of our proposed approach in several test-time dynamic navigation scenarios. Our approach enable robots to learn from human feedback and adapt to previously unseen adversarial situations

A comparative study of different adjuncts to enhance the effects of intrathecal bupivacaine

Background: Spinal anaesthesia is the commonly used technique for lower abdominal surgeries. Adjuvants to bupivacaine have been used to provide good quality of perioperative and postoperative analgesia. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of subarachnoid administration of bupivacaine with clonidine, magnesium, dexmedetomidine and saline group.Methods: The prospective, comparative single blind study included 120 patients in American society of anaesthesiologist (ASA) grade I and II, scheduled for lower abdominal surgeries were allocated in four groups. Each group included 15 mg bupivacaine with various adjuvants (30 µg clonidine, 50 mg magnesium sulphate and 3µg dexmedetomidine) were compared with saline group (group S).Results: Time of onset was earlier in groups D and C but delayed in group M. The total power regains (B0) in group D (250.8±18.87), group M (235.23±24.66) and group C (242.70±25.98) were significantly delayed (p<0.05) as compare with group S (180.07±18.53). Demand of analgesia was significantly earlier in group S as compared with groups C, M and D. Similarly, the time of two segment regression was significantly earlier in group S as compared with groups C, M and D (p<0.001). Patients were hemodynamically stable in groups D, C and M as compared to Group S.Conclusions: Dexmedetomidine and clonidine were equally effective and better as compared to magnesium as an adjunct to intrathecal bupivacaine

An Early Diagnosis of Thalassemia: A Boon to a Healthy Society

The β-thalassemia is a hereditary blood disorders, characterized by reduced or absent synthesis of the hemoglobin beta chain that cause microcytic hypochromic anemia. An early diagnosis, economical test, awareness programs and prenatal screening will be a milestone for the eradication of this genetic disorder and to reduce burden of the health sector of a country subsequently the economics. Initially, the diagnosis of β-thalassemia depends on the hematological tests with red cell indices that disclosed the microcytic hypochromic anemia. Hemoglobin analysis shows the abnormal peripheral blood smear with nucleated red blood cells, and reduced amounts of hemoglobin A (HbA). In severe anemia, the hemoglobin analysis by HPLC reveals decreased quantities of HbA and increased the level of hemoglobin F (HbF). The decrease level of MCV and MCH are also associated with β-thalassemia. There are various different molecular techniques such as ARMS PCR, allele-specific PCR, Gap PCR, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, reverse dot blotting, DGGE, SSCP, HRM, MLPA, sequencing technology and microarray available to identify the globin chain gene mutations. These molecular techniques can be clustered for detection by mutation types and alteration in gene sequences

Multiomics integrative analysis reveals antagonistic roles of CBX2 and CBX7 in metabolic reprogramming of breast cancer

Striking similarity exists between metabolic changes associated with embryogenesis and tumorigenesis. Chromobox proteins-CBX2/4/6/7/8, core components of canonical polycomb repressor complex 1, play essential roles in embryonic development and aberrantly expressed in breast cancer. Understanding how altered CBX expression relates to metabolic reprogramming in breast cancer may reveal vulnerabilities of therapeutic pertinence. Using transcriptomic and metabolomic data from breast cancer patients (N > 3000 combined), we performed pathway-based analysis and identified outstanding roles of CBX2 and CBX7 in positive and negative regulation of glucose metabolism, respectively. Genetic ablation experiments validated the contrasting roles of two isoforms in cancer metabolism and cell growth. Furthermore, we provide evidence for the role of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 signaling in mediating contrary effects of CBX2 and CBX7 on breast cancer metabolism. Underpinning the biological significance of metabolic roles, CBX2 and CBX7 were found to be the most up- and downregulated isoforms, respectively, in breast tumors compared with normal tissues. Moreover, CBX2 and CBX7 expression (not other isoforms) correlated strongly, but oppositely, with breast tumor subtype aggressiveness and the proliferation markers. Consistently, genomic data also showed higher amplification frequency of CBX2, not CBX7, in breast tumors. Highlighting the clinical significance of findings, disease-specific survival and drug sensitivity analysis revealed that CBX2 and CBX7 predicted patient outcome and sensitivity to FDA-approved/investigational drugs. In summary, this work identifies novel cross talk between CBX2/7 and breast tumor metabolism, and the results presented may have implications in strategies targeting breast cancer

Entangled Dilaton Dyons

Einstein-Maxwell theory coupled to a dilaton is known to give rise to extremal solutions with hyperscaling violation. We study the behaviour of these solutions in the presence of a small magnetic field. We find that in a region of parameter space the magnetic field is relevant in the infra-red and completely changes the behaviour of the solution which now flows to an $AdS_2\times R^2$ attractor. As a result there is an extensive ground state entropy and the entanglement entropy of a sufficiently big region on the boundary grows like the volume. In particular, this happens for values of parameters at which the purely electric theory has an entanglement entropy growing with the area, $A$, like $A \log(A)$ which is believed to be a characteristic feature of a Fermi surface. Some other thermodynamic properties are also analysed and a more detailed characterisation of the entanglement entropy is also carried out in the presence of a magnetic field. Other regions of parameter space not described by the $AdS_2\times R^2$ end point are also discussed.Comment: Some comments regarding comparison with weakly coupled Fermi liquid changed, typos corrected and caption of a figure modifie