Approximate Compressors for Multiplication

At nanometric scales, approximate computing is an attractive prototype used for digital processing. Despite providing less accurate results, approximate computing is preferred over exact computing as it provides a fast & significant output along with low power consumption. Designing of an efficient multiplier has always been a challenge for VLSI designers as multipliers have a large area, long latency consumes considerable power. For this inconvenience compressor with low latency, low power consumption and reduced stages of the product are designed. This paper proposes two methods to design high order compressors (8:4 & 9:4) (i) Using adders (half & full) (ii) Using multiplexers in Cadence VIRTUOSO tool using 45nm technology. Extensive simulation results show that the proposed designs achieve significant accuracy improvement along with power, area, and delay reductions compared to previous compressor designs

Role of multidetector computed tomography in evaluation of suspected bronchogenic carcinoma

Background: Bronchogenic  carcinoma  is  the  leading cause  of  cancer  deaths  in  developed  countries  and  is  rising  at  alarming  rates  in developing countries. Deaths due to lung cancer are more than those due to colorectal, breast and prostate cancers put together.  CT remains the routine imaging procedure for determining resectability and assessing intra- and extra thoracic spread of lung cancer.Methods: 30 patients with strong clinical / radiological suspicious of bronchogenic carcinoma were included in this study. MDCT was carried out and its provisional diagnosis of bronchogenic carcinoma was correlated with pathological diagnosis obtained on bronchoscopic biopsy / CT guided FNAC.Results: Patient’s age ranged between 45 to 80 years with the mean age of 59 years. There was significant male preponderance (26 males) with smoking being the most common risk factor (83.3%). Cough (83.3%) and dyspnea (80%) were the commonest symptoms. The most common radiological manifestation was central hilar mass seen in 20 (66.6%) patients and peripheral mass seen in 10 (33.3%) patients. Provisional CT diagnosis was found in complete correlation with pathological diagnosis made on bronchoscopy biopsy/ CT guided FNAC in 28 (93.3%) patients and others 2 patients diagnosed as pulmonary tuberculosis, non caseating granulomatous inflammation on histopathological diagnosis. Squamous cell carcinoma was the commonest histopathological type seen in 16 (53.3%) patients followed by adenocarcinoma seen in 8 (26.6%) patients.Conclusions: Multidetector computed tomography plays an important role in evaluating and staging of bronchogenic carcinoma.CT had the high predictive value in evaluating bronchogenic carcinoma and found to be 93.3%.

To evaluate the analgesic activity of resveratrol in different doses in animal model

Background: Pain is a complex unpleasant phenomenon composed of sensory experiences originating from damaged tissue or abnormal physiological condition. The objective of this study was to evaluate the analgesic activity of resveratrol in different doses in animal model.Methods: Albino mice of either sex weighing 20-30 gms were selected for the study. Mice were divided into 4 groups of 6 animals each. The control group received 0.9% normal saline (10 ml/kg), standard group received indomethacin (10 mg/kg) and test groups received resveratrol (50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg). The drugs were given orally 1 hour prior to the tests. The animals were tested for analgesia activity 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes after drug administration using tail flick method and 1% acetic acid was given intraperitoneally to induce writhing in the other method. Delay in the reaction time in tail flick method and decrease in total number of writhes in acetic acid induced writhing model denoted analgesic activity. Data analysis was done using one way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s HSD test. P<0.05 was considered as statistically significant.Results: Resveratrol showed significant increase in reaction time at various time periods in tail flick method and showed significant decrease in the number of writhes in acetic acid induced writhing method.Conclusions: In the study, resveratrol exhibited analgesic activity in both thermal and chemical pain models in both the doses, and analgesic activity in higher dose (100 mg/kg) was comparable to standard drug

Anxiolytic potential of astaxanthin on experimental animal model

Background: Astaxanthin is a naturally occurring carotenoid found in nature primarily in marine organisms. Carotenoids are well known for their therapeutic benefits in the aging process and various diseases, because of their antioxidant properties. Additionally, astaxanthin has well-documented anti-inflammatory and immune-stimulating effects. It is a known fact that oxidative stress is associated with depression, anxiety, and related psychiatric disorders. Astaxanthin may also reduce oxidative stress in the nervous system, reducing the risk of neurodegenerative diseases. Although astaxanthin has the ability to cross the blood–brain barrier and has a beneficial effect on the CNS, the effects of astaxanthin on anxiety and depression have not been reported.Methods: In this study, to investigate the effects of astaxanthin on anxiety, we performed some behavioural tests including elevated plus maze test, hole-board test, light/dark exploration test.Results: In elevated plus maze test the time spent in the closed arm by astaxanthin treated rats was significantly (P <0.05) decreased as compared to control. The number of readings in both the arms was significantly (P <0.05) increased in astaxanthin treated rats as compared to control. In hole board apparatus, it showed anxiolytic response by significantly reduced the number of head poking. Increased number of entries in the bright side and decrease of time spent by the animal in dark side were observed in the light/dark exploration test.Conclusions: The present study indicates that Astaxanthin produces anxiolytic response at the dose of 3 mg/kg on experimental animal model

Evolocumab: rising momentum as novel antidyslipidemic drug

Increased levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol are responsible for the major cardiovascular events. Low density lipoprotein cholesterol reduction has proved to be highly effective in reducing the risk of major cardiovascular (CV) events in various trials. ACC/AHA guidelines recommend lipid-lowering therapy for patients with known cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Statins are the gold standard treatment for all types hypercholeterolemia but still there is need of some other lipid-lowering therapies especially in patients with statin intolerance and in patients responding inadequately to statins. Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) was discovered in 2003 and subsequently emerged as a novel target for LDLC-lowering therapy. Evolocumab is a fully human monoclonal immunoglobulin G2 (IgG2) directed against human PCSK9. Evolocumab binds to PCSK9 enzyme rendering it unable to bind to the LDLR. More LDLR are available to bind to LDLC. Evolocumab increase the density of LDLR on the surface of hepatocytes, thereby increasing the uptake of LDL particles and decreasing the LDLC in the blood. Evolocumab has proved its efficacy with LDLC reduction from 53% to 75% and associated with minor side effects. Evolocumab has corroborated its effectiveness in reduction in the levels of LDLC. This drug has shown efficacy in heterozygous and homozygous subtypes of familial hypercholesterolemia. Statin intolerance seen in about 15% of all patients restricts the use of first line drug for dyslipidemia. Evolocumab can be a useful option in statin intolerant patients and in patients responding inadequately to statins

Scaling of the Number of Modes in Mode Division Multiplexing Systems

We review our recent advances on the design of multimode fibres with hundreds of spatial pathways for reduced differential mode delay in the C-band and on the development of adaptable spatial multiplexing techniques to enable scalability of all data pathways

Implementation of FSK and PSK Using On-Off Keying with MATLAB

Frequency shift keying (FSK) and Phase shift keying (PSK) are executed and investigated in this paper. FSK and PSK modulated signals are produced using On-Off Keying (OOK) which is a special case of Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK).This paper describes the relation between digital modulation technique ASK, FSK and PSK in the simplest manner.These are digital modulation techniques so the input signal should be in binary form means either 0 or 1. For ASK amplitude of carrier signal is varied to represent binary 1 and 0 respectively, FSK frequency of carrier signal is varied according to the message signal and for PSK phase of the carrier signal is varied according to the message signal. In this paper square wave as message signal data and a high frequency carrier signal have been used. First ASK signal is executed by simple multiplication process of data stream with carrier and then FSK through invert data stream with changing frequency of the carrier also. PSK is implemented by change data stream in bi-polar NRZ (Non return to Zero) form and then multiplication process. To execute the coding system generator version 8.5 are used under MATLAB version (R2015a.

A comparative study on safety and efficacy of travoprost and brimonidine/timolol fixed combination in patients of primary open angle glaucoma

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare and evaluate the clinical efficacy of topically applied travoprost 0.004% eye drops versus brimonidine/timolol fixed combination eye drops in the management of primary open-angle glaucoma.Methods: In this prospective, randomized study, 65 patients received either travoprost eye drops once daily in the morning (n=33) or brimonidine/timolol fixed combination eye drops twice daily (n=32). Intra ocular pressure (IOP) was assessed at 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks. The primary outcome measure was mean reduction in IOP.Results: Thebaseline mean IOP values were similar between two groups. Mean reduction of IOP in the right eye for brimonidine/timolol fixed combination group was 9±2.9 mmHg, whereas in the left eye it was 10.9±2.8 mmHg. In the travoprost group, the reduction in IOP of the right eye was 7.8±2.9 mmHg (p=0.0002) and 7.5±3.4 mmHg (p=0.0001) in the left eye. The mean reduction of IOP for the brimonidine/timolol group was 9.95 mmHg and for the travoprost group it was 7.6 mmHg (p<0.0001) in both the eyes.Conclusions: The fixed combination brimonidine/timolol twice daily demonstrated superior mean IOP lowering efficacy compared to travoprost 0.004% in patients with open-angle glaucoma

Biochemical response of earthworm, Eisenia fetida to heavy metals toxicity

Soil heavy metal pollution is widespread and has severe adverse effects on soil organisms. Earthworms are the major soil organisms which perform several beneficial ecological functions butare vulnerable to damage from heavy metal pollution of soil. The present study was conducted to evaluate the potential toxicity of arsenic (As) and chromium (Cr) on the biochemical response of the earthworm, Eisenia fetida. Following exposure to various sub-lethal concentrations ofAs (34, 68, 102 and 136 mg/kg) and Cr(26, 51, 77 and 102 mg/kg ) for 28 days, the levels of several biochemical markers, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were assessed. The results showed that both heavy metals significantly (p&lt;0.05)  impacted the antioxidant enzyme activities and MDA content during the entire exposure period. Compared with the control, SOD, CAT, POD and GST activities increased significantly (p&lt;0.05) by (6.21-23.23, 6.32-18.6, 15.87-34.18 and 0.84-5.45% respectively) at14th day, but after prolonged exposure, these activities were significantly (p&lt;0.05) decreased (9.58-38.13, 10.09-30.03, 19.05-53.16 and 2.26-9.36% respectively) at 28th day. The contents of MDA showed significant (p&lt;0.05) increase (17.84-45.59%) in all exposure groups for entire exposure period. Therefore, it can be concluded that antioxidants play a direct role in the adaptive response of E. fetida for survival in heavy metal contaminated soil. This adaptive antioxidant response can be used as an important biomarker to assess the toxicity of heavy metals in the soil ecosystems

Pharmacoeconomic analysis of brimonidine/timolol and travoprost 0.004% in the treatment of primary open angle glaucoma in Indian settings

Background: As we know primary open angle glaucoma need lifelong treatment. It possess financial burden to patient. We have done this study to compare the monthly cost and cost effectiveness of brimonidine /timolol fixed combi-nation and Travoprost 0.004% eye drops in patients of primary open angle glaucoma.Methods: Drops were dispensed at room temperature from 2.5-mL bottles of Travoprost, and 5ml of Brimonidine/Timolol. Two determinations of drop count were taken, each made from bottles held vertically and at a 45-degree angle. The total volumes of medication dispensed from each bottle were measured. Drops in five new bottles were counted and averaged for each drug. Drugs given to patients and asked them to come back with empty bottles for follow up after 2, 4, 8, 12 wks. IOP was measured and another bottle of drug is given. Average retail price was determined by survey of different brands available in market. Drop count, average retail price, and IOP reduction data were used to compute annual cost and cost effectiveness (annual cost per mmHg of IOP reduction) of both of the drugs.Results: Drops per 2.5ml bottle averaged 83 for Travoprost 0.004% and 100 drops per 5ml bottle for Brimonidine/Timolol. Average retail cost per bottle was 498 for Travoprost 0.004% and 204 for Brimonidine/Timolol. Annual re-tail cost was 3545 for Brimonidine/Timolol and 4910 for Travoprost 0.004%. Cost effectiveness ranges were 328 to 361 for Brimoni-dine/Timolol and 629 to 637 for Travoprost 0.004%.Conclusions: Brimonidine/Timolol had the lower monthly cost and annual cost and it is more cost effective than Travoprost 0.004%