Definitions of Cognitive Frailty: The Vulnerable Brain

A worldwide ageing population has brought to the fore the concept of frailty and the need to understand, characterise and importantly to slow the process. Within this is the concept of cognitive frailty which is as yet most commonly understood to be memory loss- a spectrum of the forgetfulness which is thought to come with age through to dementia. Here I discuss this and explain why this needs to expanded in order to allow further exploration and thought about cognitive frailty, the ways in which it can manifest and how it can be managed

Analysis of fractured terrain using remote sensing and geographic information systems : establishing a correlation between fracture network properties and vegetation

This research analyzed the spatial relationship between a mega-scale fracture network and the occurrence of vegetation in an arid region. High-resolution aerial photographs of Arches National Park, Utah were used for digital image processing. Four sets of large-scale joints were digitized from the rectified color photograph in order to characterize the geospatial properties of the fracture network with the aid of a Geographic Information System. An unsupervised landcover classification was carried out to identify the spatial distribution of vegetation on the fractured outcrop. Results of this study confirm that the WNW-ESE alignment of vegetation is dominantly controlled by the spatial distribution of the systematic joint set, which in turn parallels the regional fold axis. This research provides insight into the spatial heterogeneity inherent to fracture networks, as well as the effects of jointing on the distribution of surface vegetation in desert environments

Evidence of changes in the low-latitude plasma drift under IMF BzB_z coupling: a TIEGCM simulation approach

Study of the dynamic nature of low-latitude ionosphere during geomagnetically disturbed conditions, especially in the EIA and the magnetic equatorial regions are vital for understanding the underlying physics as well as for mitigating space weather hazards on the sophisticated technological systems essential for human civilization. An important aspect of the space weather studies is the thorough understanding of coupling between the solar wind and the terrestrial magnetosphere-ionosphere system and subsequent influence on the low-latitude ionosphere. This paper presents an effort to understand the influence of actual values of the north-south component of Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF, $B_z$) on the vertical plasma drifts at a location near the EIA and the geomagnetic equator. The strong storm event of October 13, 2016, falling in the descending phase of solar cycle 24, has been taken up as a case study. Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIEGCM) simulation runs have been performed under two scenarios: first when no coupling is present (IMF $B_z$ = 0 nT) and second when actual observations of the values of IMF $B_z$ is given as inputs to the model. Observations show when actual data is fed to the model, there is significant shift of the vertical drift towards westward, while there is an increase in the peak value of the westward drift after the pre-reversal enhancement. This study is an initial effort to understand the variations in low-latitude plasma motions during the main phase of strong geomagnetic storms. This initial work will be followed up with understanding the global plasma drift variations under the influence of other components of the IMF near the EIA and the dip equatorial regions.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication as a Young Scientist Award (YSA) Paper at the 3rd URSI Atlantic-Asia-Pacific Radio Science Conference (URSI-AT-AP-RASC 2022), Gran Canaria, Spai

Stripping Voltammetric Determination Of Zinc, Cadmium, Lead And Copper In Blood Samples Of Children Aged Between 3 Months And 6 years

Blood samples of 160 children, ranging age between 3 months and 6 years were selected from five different parts of Amritsar district of Punjab (India) and were analyzed for Zn, Cd, Pb and Cu using anodic stripping voltammetry. Large variations in the results have been correlated to the area inhabited, age differences and other factors. It was found that the areas, more prone to environmental stress, had shown more quantities of these metals in blood samples in comparison to those which were taken from safer sites. Similarly the younger children lesser exposed to environmental pollution had shown comparatively lesser quantity of these metals in comparison to older objects

COVID-19: Oral Manifestations-A Dentist's Perspective

Covid-19 is a global pandemic disease which has crippled health care system and economics worldwide. According to WHO, an acute respiratory infection, fever and cough are the most valid diagnostic clinical features. Some common orofacial manifestations of this viral infection may contribute to early diagnosis of covid-19 infection. Oral manifestations include olfactory and gustatory disturbances, dry mouth, facial pain, vesicobullous lesions such as erosion, pustule, macule, papule, plaque, pigmentation and depapilliated tongue with whitish areas, hemorrhagic crust, necrosis, swelling and  erythema. The most common sites of involvement in descending order are tongue (38%), labial mucosa (26%), and palate (22%).  Oral lesions are symptomatic in 68% of the cases who test positive for SARS Co-V. Lack of oral hygiene, opportunistic infections, stress, immunosuppression, vasculitis, and hyper-inflammatory response secondary to COVID-19 are the most important predisposing factors for onset of oral lesions in COVID-19 patients

Knowledge of yoga among cancer patients and their attendants: a survey in a tertiary cancer centre in North East India

Yoga is an ancient Indian science that has evolved over thousands of years. Yoga deals with the physical, mental, moral and spiritual well-being of an individual.1 We have conducted an electronic survey amongst the cancer patients and attendants of our hospital about their knowledge of yoga. It’s a survey of 62 participants from 15/06/2021 to 18/06/2021 (before international yoga day on 21/06/21), 46.8% of the participants are male and 53.2% are female in the survey. The age of the participants ranges from 9 to 69 years. We have designed a set of ten questions, first six questions are designed to know their knowledge about the beneficial effects of the yoga, next two questions are about the misconceptions, cautions and guidance needs while performing yoga and the last two questions about the possibility of the practical application of it in their life. In our survey, we find that 93.5% of the participants think yoga reduces stress, 96.8% think yoga reduces fatigue, 95.2% opine yoga improves sleep, 93.5% feel yoga improves posture-related dysfunctions in cancer patients. Regarding chances of recurrence in cancer patients, 75.8% of patients think it has a negative impact on recurrence, 40.3% of participants have an opinion that yoga can cure cancer (no study till now proves that yoga cures cancer), and 90.3% feels that unguided yoga can cause injuries. At last, 93.5% patients feel yoga improve quality of life in cancer patients and 93.5% want to implement yoga in their daily life. From our survey, it seems participants have a fair idea of the benefits of yoga in cancer

CDM Robust & Low Noise ESD protection circuits

In spite of significant progress during last couple of decades, ESD still affects production yields, manufacturing costs, product quality, product reliability and profitability. The objective of an ESD protection circuit is to create a harmless shunting path for the static electricity before it damages the sensitive electronic circuits. As the devices are scaling down, while ESD energy remains the same, VLSIs are becoming more vulnerable to ESD stress. This higher susceptibility to ESD damage is due to thinner gate oxides and shallower junctions. Furthermore, higher operating frequency of the scaled technologies enforces lower parasitic capacitance of the ESD protection circuits. Hence, increasing the robustness of the ESD protection circuits with minimum additional parasitic capacitance is the main challenge in state of the art CMOS processes. Furthermore with scaling, the integration of analog blocks such as ADC, PLL’s, DLL’s, oscillator etc. on digital chips has provided cheap system on chip (SOC) solutions. However, when analog and digital chip are combined into single mixed-signal chip, on-chip noise coupling from the digital to the analog circuitry through ESD protection circuits becomes a big concern. Thus, increasing supply noise isolation while ensuring the ESD protection robustness is also a big challenge. In this thesis, several ESD protection circuits and devices have been proposed to address the critical issues like increased leakage current, slower turn-on time of devices, increased susceptibility to power supply isolation etc. The proposed ESD protection circuits/devices have been classified into two categories: Pad based ESD protection in which the ESD protection circuits are placed in the I/O pads, and Rail based ESD in which ESD protection circuit is placed between power supplies. In our research, both these aspects have been investigated. The Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) based devices have been used for Pad ESD protection as they have highest ESD protection level per unit area. Two novel devices Darlington based SCR (DSCR) and NMOS Darlington based SCR (NMOS-DSCR) having faster turn-on time, lower first breakdown voltage and low capacitance have been proposed. The transient clamps have been investigated and optimized for Rail based ESD protection. In this research, we have addressed the issue of leakage current in transient clamps. A methodology has been purposed to reduce the leakage current by more than 200,000 times without having major impact on the ESD performance. Also, the issue of noise coupling from digital supply to analog supply through the ESD protection circuits has been addressed. A new transient clamp has been proposed to increase the power supply noise isolation. Finally, a new methodology of placement of analog circuit with respect to transient clamp has been proposed to further increase the power supply noise isolation

Peat Soils of the Everglades of Florida, USA

In this chapter, we briefly discuss the development of the Everglades over the past 5 million years, the modifications made to the Everglades over the past century and a half and the quantification of the changes that have occurred to the peat soils of the Everglades due to natural and anthropogenic causes during this most recent period. Using Geographic Information Systems and historical data sets, we have been able to calculate the original peat volumes, the remaining peat volumes and thus, the amount lost over the past approximately 150 years. From these volume calculations and peat physical and chemical characterizations by the USEPA over a large area of the Everglades, we have estimated the mass of peat and carbon lost, 900 million metric tons and 300 million metric tons, respectively. The amount of peat lost has implications for hydrological, ecological and landscape restoration and habitat recovery for the Everglades