Constraints Perceived by Students in School Vegetable Gardening

The study was conducted in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala to identify the constraints experienced by students in the course of engaging in school vegetable gardening programme. Ten schools were selected for data enumeration. A total of 130 respondents with 100 students comprising ten students each and 30 teachers comprising three each, from each school were selected for meeting the objectives of the study. The reaction to each constraint was obtained on a four-point continuum namely most important, important, less important and least important with the score 4, 3, 2 and 1 respectively. Mean rank cumulative index for each constraint was worked out and the constraints were ranked and catalogued. The major constraints as perceived by students in school vegetable garden projects were, high input cost followed by lack of student’s participation, lack of teacher’s involvement, non-availability of implements, high labour cost, poor storage facilities and lack of knowledge about gardening

Aseptic Orbital Cellulitis as a Complication of Suprachoroidal Hemorrhage

Suprachoroidal hemorrhage is a rare and potentially devastating clinical entity seen in individuals on anticoagulation presenting with severe unilateral eye pain, sudden vision loss, and elevated intraocular pressures. Herein, we report the first case of aseptic orbital cellulitis caused by recurrent spontaneous suprachoroidal hemorrhage. This case highlights an example of non-infectious orbital cellulitis arising from choroidal pathology in the setting of uncontrolled intraocular pressures and recurrent intraocular bleeding. Surgical intervention with blood drainage should be considered to prevent complications and preserve the globe

An overview of deep learning based methods for unsupervised and semi-supervised anomaly detection in videos

Videos represent the primary source of information for surveillance applications and are available in large amounts but in most cases contain little or no annotation for supervised learning. This article reviews the state-of-the-art deep learning based methods for video anomaly detection and categorizes them based on the type of model and criteria of detection. We also perform simple studies to understand the different approaches and provide the criteria of evaluation for spatio-temporal anomaly detection.Comment: 15 pages, double colum

Is awareness of HIV enough to alter high-risk behaviour? What do HIV positive individuals have to say? A study from south India

This study was done to find out the awareness of HIV among HIV positive individuals before being diagnosed HIV positive. The study also provides information on whether their knowledge influenced their risk behavior if any. This is a descriptive study and data has been collected from 108 HIV positive individuals from Chennai, South India. Awareness of HIV and its mode of transmission were as high as 85%. Gender and literacy has not been a barrier to awareness. In spite of awareness of HIV/AIDS and its spread, 73% of the respondents continued risk behaviour. The respondents included men and women and their reasons for risk behavior and their manifold misconceptions have been reported. The findings call for the need to address these issues in preventive programmes aimed at HIV control

On-board B-ISDN fast packet switching architectures. Phase 1: Study

Broadband ISDN (B-ISDN) extends the service integration concept to include future high speed, high volume network services as well as to accommodate narrowband ISDN in its infrastructure. The impact of B-ISDN services on satellite communications can be significant, requiring the same or similar quality of communications services provided by the terrestrial B-ISDN network. Potential satellite applications, alternate satellite network architectures, system design issues, and onboard switching/processing options for satellite B-ISDN services are investigated. Special attention is focused on fast packet switching architectures and switch design details to exploit the feasibility of implementing a fast packet switch in the future advanced communications satellite

On-board B-ISDN fast packet switching architectures. Phase 1: Study

The broadband integrate services digital network (B-ISDN) is an emerging telecommunications technology that will meet most of the telecommunications networking needs in the mid-1990's to early next century. The satellite-based system is well positioned for providing B-ISDN service with its inherent capabilities of point-to-multipoint and broadcast transmission, virtually unlimited connectivity between any two points within a beam coverage, short deployment time of communications facility, flexible and dynamic reallocation of space segment capacity, and distance insensitive cost. On-board processing satellites, particularly in a multiple spot beam environment, will provide enhanced connectivity, better performance, optimized access and transmission link design, and lower user service cost. The following are described: the user and network aspects of broadband services; the current development status in broadband services; various satellite network architectures including system design issues; and various fast packet switch architectures and their detail designs

Schizophrenia in late life: emerging issues

Schizophrenia in late life is emerging as a major public health concern worldwide. We discuss several areas of research and clinical care that are particularly pertinent to older persons with schizophrenia, including the public health challenge and the cost of care. We then discuss clinical issues relevant to late-life schizophrenia (course of illness and cognition), medical care and comorbidity in older psychiatric patients (general and illness-related), and treatment concerns related to the use of atypical antipsychotics in older persons with psychosis (efficacy and side effects). Clinical care for this ever-increasing segment of our population requires special consideration of the unique characteristics of older persons with schizophrenia

Expression of apoplast-targeted plant defensin \u3ci\u3eMtDef4.2\u3c/i\u3e confers resistance to leaf rust pathogen \u3ci\u3ePuccinia triticina\u3c/i\u3e but does not affect mycorrhizal symbiosis in transgenic wheat

Rust fungi of the order Pucciniales are destructive pathogens of wheat worldwide. Leaf rust caused by the obligate, biotrophic basidiomycete fungus Puccinia triticina (Pt) is an economically important disease capable of causing up to 50 % yield losses. Historically, resistant wheat cultivars have been used to control leaf rust, but genetic resistance is ephemeral and breaks down with the emergence of new virulent Pt races. There is a need to develop alternative measures for control of leaf rust in wheat. Development of transgenic wheat expressing an antifungal defensin offers a promising approach to complement the endogenous resistance genes within the wheat germplasm for durable resistance to Pt. To that end, two different wheat genotypes, Bobwhite and Xin Chun 9 were transformed with a chimeric gene encoding an apoplast-targeted antifungal plant defensin MtDEF4.2 from Medicago truncatula. Transgenic lines from four independent events were further characterized. Homozygous transgenic wheat lines expressing MtDEF4.2 displayed resistance to Pt race MCPSS relative to the non-transgenic controls in growth chamber bioassays. Histopathological analysis suggested the presence of both pre- and posthaustorial resistance to leaf rust in these transgenic lines. MtDEF4.2 did not, however, affect the root colonization of a beneficial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis. This study demonstrates that the expression of apoplast-targeted plant defensin MtDEF4.2 can provide substantial resistance to an economically important leaf rust disease in transgenic wheat without negatively impacting its symbioti

Receptor-Binding and Oncogenic Properties of Polyoma Viruses Isolated from Feral Mice

Laboratory strains of the mouse polyoma virus differ markedly in their abilities to replicate and induce tumors in newborn mice. Major determinants of pathogenicity lie in the sialic binding pocket of the major capsid protein Vp1 and dictate receptor-binding properties of the virus. Substitutions at two sites in Vp1 define three prototype strains, which vary greatly in pathogenicity. These strains replicate in a limited fashion and induce few or no tumors, cause a disseminated infection leading to the development of multiple solid tumors, or replicate and spread acutely causing early death. This investigation was undertaken to determine the Vp1 type(s) of new virus isolates from naturally infected mice. Compared with laboratory strains, truly wild-type viruses are constrained with respect to their selectivity and avidity of binding to cell receptors. Fifteen of 15 new isolates carried the Vp1 type identical to that of highly tumorigenic laboratory strains. Upon injection into newborn laboratory mice, the new isolates induced a broad spectrum of tumors, including ones of epithelial as well as mesenchymal origin. Though invariant in their Vp1 coding sequences, these isolates showed considerable variation in their regulatory sequences. The common Vp1 type has two essential features: 1) failure to recognize “pseudoreceptors” with branched chain sialic acids binding to which would attenuate virus spread, and 2) maintenance of a hydrophobic contact with true receptors bearing a single sialic acid, which retards virus spread and avoids acute and potentially lethal infection of the host. Conservation of these receptor-binding properties under natural selection preserves the oncogenic potential of the virus. These findings emphasize the importance of immune protection of neonates under conditions of natural transmission