SURVEY : CRYPTOGRAPHY OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHMS

With the advent of e-commerce, it has become extremely essential to tackle the sensitive issues of affording data security, especially in the ever-blooming open network environment of the modern era. The encrypting technologies of the time-honored cryptography are generally employed to shelter data safety extensively. The term ‘cryptography’ refers to the process of safeguarding the secret data against access by unscrupulous persons in scenarios where it is humanly impossible to furnish physical protection. It deals with the methods which convert the data between intelligible and unintelligible forms by encryption/decryption functions with the management of key(s). Nowadays cryptographic key management issues that arise due to the distributed nature of IT resources, as well the distributed nature of their control. Recently these issues are solved by optimization algorithms utilized in the cryptographic algorithms. The purpose of this paper is to give a survey of optimal cryptographic keys that can be developed with the help of optimization algorithms, and to address their merits to the real-worldscenarios.AbstractWith the advent of e-commerce, it has become extremely essential to tackle the sensitive issues of affording data security, especially in the ever-blooming open network environment of the modern era. The encrypting technologies of the time-honored cryptography are generally employed to shelter data safety extensively. The term ‘cryptography’ refers to the process of safeguarding the secret data against access by unscrupulous persons in scenarios where it is humanly impossible to furnish physical protection. It deals with the methods which convert the data between intelligible and unintelligible forms by encryption/decryption functions with the management of key(s). Nowadays cryptographic key management issues that arise due to the distributed nature of IT resources, as well the distributed nature of their control. Recently these issues are solved by optimization algorithms utilized in the cryptographic algorithms. The purpose of this paper is to give a survey of optimal cryptographic keys that can be developed with the help of optimization algorithms, and to address their merits to the real-worldscenarios. Keywords:Cryptography; Encryption; Decryption; Key Management; Optimization algorithm

Evaluation of uterine cervix with transvaginal ultrasonography in women with threatened preterm labor and or preterm labor

Background: Preterm delivery can be associated with substantial perinatal morbidity and mortality. Nearly in 5 to 13% of pregnancies, happening deliveries are preterm before 37 weeks' gestation. Thus, prediction of preterm labor in parturient can provide a window of opportunity to prevent these complications and to be better prepared to deal with them. Hence the current study has been conducted with an objective to assess the efficiency of cervical length and funneling as assessed by transvaginal ultrasonography in predicting preterm labor.Methods: The current study was a prospective study, conducted in the Department of Obstetrics Emergencies, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College and Hospital between November 2015 to April 2017. The study population included 60 women with singleton pregnancy of gestational age between 28 + 0 and 36 + 6 weeks and with painful and regular contractions (>1/10 min for at least 1 hour). Cervical length, funnelling length measured at presentation and after 48 hours were considered as predictor variables. The outcomes of interest were delivery within 1 week, delivery before 37 weeks and delivery before 34 weeks.Results: There was a statistically significant difference in cervical length and funnelling length between term and preterm groups at the time of diagnosis and after 48 hours (P <0.001). The positive predictive value increased from 33.3% to 100% with cervical length ≤ 40 mm to ≤ 20 mm. The negative predictive value decreased from 100% to 79.2% with cervical length ≤40 mm to ≤20 mm. To predict a preterm delivery in threatened preterm delivery patients, the sensitivity of a cervical length of ≤25 mm was 77.7%, specificity was 95.2%, the positive predictive value was 87.5% and negative predictive value is 90.9%.Conclusions: Cervical length and funnelling as assessed by transvaginal ultrasonography are efficient in predicting preterm labor

Gibbs energies of formation of rare earth oxysulfides

The standard Gibbs energy change accompanying the conversion of rare earth oxides to oxysulfides by reaction of rare earth oxides with diatomic sulfur gas has been measured in the temperature range 870 to 1300 K using the solid state cell: Pt/Cu+Cu2S/R2O2S+R2O3||(CaO)ZrO2||Ni+NiO, Pt where R=La, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, and Dy. The partial pressure of diatomic sulfur over a mixture of rare earth oxide (R2O3) and oxysulfide (R2O2S) is fixed by the dissociation of Cu2S to Cu in a closed system. The buffer mixture of Cu+Cu2S is physically separated from the rare earth oxide and oxysulfide to avoid complications arising from interaction between them. The corresponding equilibrium oxygen partial pressure is measured with an oxide solid electrolyte cell. Gibbs energy change for the conversion of oxide to the corresponding oxysulfide increases monotonically with atomic number of the rare earth element. Second law enthalpy of formation also shows a similar trend. Based on this empirical trend Gibbs energies of formation of oxysulfides of Pr, Eu, Ho, and Er are estimated as a function of temperature

Patch testing to detect contact hypersensitivity to corticosteroids.

Topical corticosteroids are extensively used preparations as prescription medicines and as over the counter medications in a wide variety of inflammatory dermatosis. These are increasingly recognized as a cause of allergic contact dermatitis. The incidence of which is reported to be 0.5 – 5% in various studies in Europe and USA. Studies in South East Asia show a prevalence of 3.29% in Thailand. But there are limited data available in India and no studies determining the same. The subtle clinical presentations are responsible for missing this condition by the practicing doctors. One should thus consider this diagnosis when there is worsening or poor response of the existing dermatosis to topical steroids. Objectives: To study the contact hypersensitivity by patch testing in patients who do not respond to or aggravate after using topical corticosteroids. Materials and Methods: 24 patients aged 14 to 82 years with 17 males and 7 females underwent corticosteroid patch testing with chemotechnique series which had 9 corticosteroid allergens including control – petrolatum and patients own products which they were applying recently. Reading was taken on Day3, 5 and 7 and results interpreted according to ICDRG scale. Results: 4 out of 24 patients (16.3% positivity) tested positive to the allergens in the corticosteroid series and 1 tested positive patients own medication. Conclusion: On reviewing the details of the positive outcomes- They were single positivity’s except in one patient with reaction of two different groups of steroids – tixocortol of Group A in the series and Flutivate ointment (Fluticasone) in her own medications. The other patterns that were observed were that the patients included in the study had longer duration of dermatosis, henc

Standard free energies of formation of rare earth sesquisulphides

An e.m.f. technique is used for the measurement of the Gibbs' energy changes involved in the conversion of the rare earth oxysulphides to the corresponding sesquisulphides in the temperature range 870 to 1120 K. The cell arrangement is Au, Ag + Ag2S|R2O2S + R2S3|| (Y2O3)ThO2|| Fe + Fe0.95O, Au where R = La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu and Gd. Yttria-doped thoria is used as the solid electrolyte because it has predominant ionic conduction at the low oxygen potentials developed at the R2O2S + R2S3 electrode, especially for systems containing heavier rare earth elements. The sulphur potential at the left-hand electrode is established by the dissociation of Ag2S to silver in a closed system. The changes in the standard free energy, enthalpy and entropy associated with the conversion of the rare earth oxysulphide to the sesquisulphide all show a smooth variation with rare earth atomic number. Based on these empirical trends, the corresponding thermodynamic functions for terbium, dysprosium and holmium systems are estimated. The measured free energy values are combined with recent data on the standard free energies of formation of the rare earth oxysulphides to obtain the Gibbs' energies of formation of the corresponding sesquisulphides

Viral Etiology of Acute Respiratory Tract Infections in Adults in Tertiary Care Hospital

INTRODUCTION: Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) are a severe public health issue throughout the world and the leading cause of adult morbidity. Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) such as rhinitis, pharyngitis and laryngitis are among the most common infections in children. URTI can lead to acute asthma exacerbations, acute otitis media, and lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) such as bronchitis, bronchiolitis and pneumonia. AIMS AND OBJECTIVE: To find out the prevalence rate of viral and bacteriological etiology of acute respiratory tract infections in adults patients in tertiary care hospital by multiplex real time PCR molecular technique. METHODS: Consecutive throat swabs, sputum, tracheal aspirate, pleural fluid, BAL samples were collected from patients suffering from respiratory tract infections. A total of 135 samples collected for a period of two years and were analysed by multiplex PCR and culture methods. RESULTS: Out of 135 samples, 86 (63.70%) pathogens were detected by multiplex PCR. Fifty five samples were positive out of 86 (63.95%) for single viral infections. Among them, Influenza A, HINI (18.51%) was the most prevalent, followed by Rhinovirus (8.88%) causing the respiratory tract infections in adults. Mixed viral infections were seen in (4.44%) of patients studied. Mixed viral and bacterial infections were seen (11.85%) of patients. Out of 135 samples, 25 (18.51%) pathogenic bacteria were detected by culture methods. Acinetobacter baumannii was identified most frequently (48%) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (24%) in culture methods. CONCLUSION: Multiplex PCR techniques which are rapid and reliable may become main stay of diagnosis of respiratory tract infections. In our study using multiplex PCR Fasttrack Diagnostic 21 pathogen plus -kit, we were able to identify viral etiology of respiratory tract infections in which Influenza HINI (18.51%) followed by Rhinovirus (8.88%) were the predominant pathogens

Randomized double blind comparison of ketamine – propofol and fentanyl – propofol for the insertion of laryngeal mask airway in children.

The ideal combination that provides smooth insertion conditions with minimal side effects has not been identified, particularly in children. In this study, 70 children of age 3-12 years are divided randomly into 2 groups: Group 1-Group-F-Fentanyl (n=35) received Fentanyl 2μg/kg and Group 2-Group –K- Ketamine (n=35) received Ketamine 0.5mg/kg before induction of anaesthesia..Baseline heart rate and arterial blood pressure were measured. Vital parameters (Heart rate and Arterial Blood Pressure) were measured before induction, before LMA insertion and thereafter at 1, 3 and 5 minutes after LMA insertion. Ideal LMA insertion conditions were evaluated with six variables by blinded observer: mouth opening, gagging, .head and limb movements, laryngospasm and resistance to insertion. Also the apnoea time was noted. RESULTS: The incidence of head/limb movements was statistically significant and Group Propofol – Ketamine showed 22% compared to Fentanyl-Propofol group (2.8%) Coughing/gagging was seen in 2.86% of both the groups. Resistance to insertion was statistically significant with p value of 0.0268 showing more in Propofol + Ketamine. There was no statistical significance in the occurrence of restricted mouth opening, restriction to LMA insertion and occurrence of swallowing between the two groups. Laryngospasm was absent in either groups. Fentanyl group showed the incidence of more apnoea (34.28) compared to Ketamine group (14.2).The heart rate (HR ),systolic blood pressure(SBP), diastolic blood pressure(DBP) and mean arterial pressure(MAP) were statistically more with Ketamine group than Fentanyl group. CONCLUSION: Co-induction with Fentanyl (2μ/kg) prior to Propofol (2.5mg/kg) induction for insertion of Laryngeal Mask Airway in children provided better insertion condition with minimal increase in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure than admixture of Ketamine (0.5mg/kg) with Propofol

Evaluation of HER-2/neu status in Gastric Carcinoma

INTRODUCTION: Gastric carcinoma is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world and is the second leading cause of cancer related death. In the West, the incidence is spontaneously declining for unknown reasons. In Asia it is still one of the commonest cancers accounting to around 13% of all malignancies. In countries like Japan and Korea in Eastern Asia, it accounts for 56% of all malignancies. Early diagnosis is challenging because of absence of symptoms in this stage of disease. More than 50% of patients with gastric cancer present in advanced, unresectable stages, making cure impossible. Two-thirds of these patients who undergo radical surgery will experience. Systemic treatment is the only option for the patients presenting in advanced stages. The median survival after diagnosis of metastatic disease is approximately 10-11 months with currently available therapies. Despite the introduction of multimodality treatment, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, postoperative chemoradiation and new chemotherapeutic regimens, there is only a minimal impact on the relapse free survival and overall survival of these patients. Many single agents and combination chemotherapeutic agents are active in the treatment of metastatic disease. Objective response rates ranging from 10% to 30% for single-agent and 30% to 60% for combination regimens have been reported. Although a large number of chemotherapy regimens are available, there is still no internationally accepted standard of care. Survival of patients presenting with advanced gastric cancer is still only 4%-10% at five years. Newer therapies are urgently needed for their better outcome. Recently, understanding of the molecular basis of cancer has contributed to the development of rationally designed molecular targeted therapies, which interfere with signalling cascades involved in cell differentiation, proliferation, and survival, of which EGFR plays an important role. Trastuzumab is one of the targeted drugs against EGFR2 (commonly known as HER-2/neu) and has recently shown to increase survival in patients with metastatic gastric carcinoma when given along with combination chemotherapy. Recent evidence suggests that patients diagnosed with metastatic gastric cancer should have the HER-2/neu status of their tumors to get benefit from treatment with Trastuzumab in combination with chemotherapy in case of HER-2/neu positivity. We conducted, this study to analyse the prevalence and significance of HER-2/neu over expression in patients with gastric carcinoma. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of this study: 1. To assess HER-2/neu overexpression in gastric carcinoma patients. 2. To assess the correlation between HER-2/neu overexpression and clinico-pathologic characteristics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study is a Prospective study conducted in the Department of Medical Oncology, Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital for a period of one year between January 2011 and December 2011. Informed written consent was obtained from all patients prior to the start of the study. Institutional Ethics committee approval was obtained at the start of the study. Inclusion criteria: 1. Patients aged 18-65 years with gastric carcinoma proven by histopathology. 2. Adenocarcinoma by histology. Exclusion criteria: Histologies other than adneocarcinoma. METHODS: All selected patients underwent diagnostic upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. A CT scan of abdomen was done for all patients as staging procedure. The AJCC TNM cancer staging 7th edition was used for staging. Of the 50 samples evaluated, 25 were endoscopic specimens and 25 were post gastrectomy specimens. RESULTS: A total of 50 patients were included in this study. Various clinicopathologic characteristic features like age, sex, histopathological type and grade were analysed for association with Her-2/neu gene overexpression. IHC SCORE: Out of 50 patients, 10 (20%) were 3+, 3 patients (6%) had 2+, 10 patients (20%) had 1+ and 27 patients (54%) had 0 score by IHC. SUMMARY: The study titled “Evaluation of HER-2/neu status in Gastric Carcinoma” was a prospective study of 50 patients with newly diagnosed Gastric Carcinoma, admitted in the Department of Medical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai. Eligible patients underwent clinical examination, endoscopy, CT Abdomen and Surgery if feasible. All patients underwent HER-2/neu status assessed in the histopathological specimen obtained by endoscopic biopsy or post gastrectomy specimen. The correlation between HER-2/neu status overexpression and clinicopathological features was analysed. There was no significant association between HER-2/neu status and clinicopathological features. CONCLUSION: The following conclusions were made from this study 1. Patients in this study presented at younger age than quoted in the western population. 2. The prevalence of HER-2/neu overexpression was 20% in this study population. 3. HER-2/neu overexpression was not associated with any major clinical or pathological features. 4. Since targeting HER-2/neu has shown an overall survival benefit of 2.7 months in literature, it can be recommended that all patients with newly diagnosed gastric cancer should undergo HER-2/neu testing for subsequent treatment with anti HER-2/neu therapy

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of antimicrobial compounds produced by mahua oil cake against the stem rot pathogen- Sclerotium rolfsii

The antifungal property containing oil cakes play a significant role in reducing plant disease in a wide range of soil-borne pathogens. A destructive soil-borne pathogen, Sclerotium rolfsii is infecting a vast range of crops worldwide. In-vitro efficacy of five different oil cakes viz. mahua cake, neem cake, pungam cake, coconut cake and castor cake extracts was tested against the stem rot pathogen of groundnut. Among the five different oil cakes, mahua oil cake extract produced the minimum mycelial growth of 1.57and1.29 cm at 5%, and 10% concentrations, respectively and showed maximum percent growth inhibition of 83.33and 86.66% respectively. Bioactive compounds in mahua oil cake were analyzed through GC-MS. From the result of GC-MS, the high retention time and peak area percentage were observed with major important bioactive compounds like n-Hexadecanoic acid (24.968) (12.22), Hexadecanoic acid, ethyl ester (23.655) (2.9), 9,12-Octadecadienoic acid (Z, Z)-(28.659)(35.61), 9-Octadecenoic acid, (E)-(28.786) (13.15), Octadecanoic acid (29.137) (33.59) and a1-Octyn-3-ol (3.023) (0.04).The bioactive compounds identified through GC-MS from mahua oil cake extract were found to be exhibiting antifungal activity against S. rolfsii

Phytostimulation and growth promotion activities of Trichoderma spp. on groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) crop

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) suffers from many soil borne pathogens that deteriorate the quality of the seeds and are responsible for high yield loss. Practically Trichoderma sp. is used for seed treatment, it minimizes the seed and soil borne pathogens and supports plant growth promotion activities. In the present study, five different isolates of Trichoderma spp. were isolated from groundnut (A. hypogaea ) rhizosphere soil. All the five isolates were confirmed by morphological methods and using molecular tools through Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) amplification of Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region of Trichoderma sp. and DNA gets amplified in 650 bp to 700 bp. Trichoderma spp. were molecularly identified as T(SP)-20 (Trichoderma longibrachiatum), T(AR)-10 (T. asperellum), T(VT)-3 (T. hamatum), T(BI)-16 (T. longibrachiatum), T(TK)-23 (T. citrinoviride). Phytostimulation activities of all the six isolates viz., phosphate solubilization, Ammonia production, IAA production, and Siderophore production, were evaluated. Among the six isolates, T(SP)-20, T(AR)-10, and TNAU-TA showed higher phytostimulation activities. The growth promotion of Trichoderma spp. on groundnut was assessed through the roll towel method. The isolate T(SP)-20 (T. longibrachiatum) produced the highest germination percentage of 93.33 and vigor index of 2246.2. This work developed a new isolate of T. longibrachiatum (T(SP)-20) which is a native isolate having significant  phytostimulation and growth promotion activities and it could be exploited for other soil borne disease managing successfully