Space-time variation and regionalization of seasonal and monthly summer monsoon rainfall of the sub-Himalayan region and Gangetic plains of India

The present study analyses space-time variation of the seasonal and monthly monsoon rainfall of the sub-Himalayan region and Gangetic plains of India by using rainfall data of 90 well-distributed stations for a period of 114 yr (1871 to 1984). Principal components (PCs) and varimaxrotated principal components (RPCs) are computed from the interstation similarity matrix. The 4 leading PCs explaining 52 to 61 of the variance respectively for seasonal and monthly rainfall are found to be statistically significant. When rotated by the varimax method these 4 PCs provide 4 distinct areas of homogeneous rainfall variability for both time scales. The most coherent region is located along the central longitude of the study area, with another coherent region over the extreme western parts. The area east of 81° E is divided into 2 coherent zones roughly along the 22° N parallel. It is noted that the regions thus identified will be useful in understanding climate variability and in weather prediction research

Apoptotic and chemotherapeutic properties of iron(III)-salophene in an ovarian cancer animal model

The cytotoxicity of organometallic compounds iron(III)-, cobalt(III)-, manganese(II)-, and copper(II)-salophene (-SP) on platinum-resistant ovarian cancer cell lines was compared. Fe-SP displayed selective cytotoxicity (IC 50 at ∼1 μM) against SKOV-3 and OVCAR-3 cell lines while Co-SP caused cytotoxic effects only at higher concentrations (IC50 at 60 ?M) and Cu-SP effects were negligible. High cytotoxicity of Mn-SP (30-60 μM) appeared to be nonspecific because the Mn-chloride salt reduced cell viability similarly. The effect of Fe-SP at 1 μM proved to be ovarian cancer cell selective when compared to a panel of cell lines derived from different tumors. The first irreversible step in the induction of cell death by Fe-SP occurred after 3 hrs as indicated by the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (ΔΨm) and was mainly linked to apoptotic, not necrotic events. To evaluate the toxicity of Fe-SP in vivo we conducted an acute toxicity study in rats. The LD 50 of Fe-SP is >2000 mg/kg orally and >5.5 mg/kg body weight by intraperitoneal injection. An ovarian cancer animal model showed that the chemotherapeutic relevant dose of Fe-SP in rats is 0.5-1 mg/kg body weight. The present report suggests that Fe-SP is a potential therapeutic drug to treat ovarian cancer. © 2009 Lange et al, publisher and licensee Dove Medical Press Ltd

Study of prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and its correlation with CD4 count in HIV patients

Background: Previous authors have reported thyroid dysfunction in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals. Thyroid dysfunction may be a marker of severity or progression of HIV as reported by several studies. Aim and objective: To study prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and its correlation with CD4 count in HIV patients. Materials and methods: One hundred and fifty HIV positive patients were studied in ART center in the Department of Medicine at Gandhi Medical College and Hamidia Hospital, Bhopal. Thyroid profile (TT3, TT4, TSH, ft3 and ft4) were assessed along with CBP, ESR, LFT and RFT. Clinical examination and X ray chest and sputum examination done for confirmation or to rule out tuberculosis. Chemiluminescence assay was used for detection of thyroid function. Results: HIV infection was more prevalent in the age groups of 30-40 years (34.6%) and females. Prevalence of thyroid abnormality was 32%. Subclinical hypothyroidism was most common (18.66%) followed by clinical hypothyroidism (11.33%). Out of 80 patients with CD4 count <250, 21 had subclinical hypothyroidism. Out of 70 patients with CD4 count >250, 7 had subclinical hypothyroidism. Conclusion: Thyroid dysfunction is highly prevalent in HIV patients’ mainly subclinical hypothyroidism. Routine thyroid function investigation is recommended in HIV patients.&nbsp

Pairwise Confusion for Fine-Grained Visual Classification

Fine-Grained Visual Classification (FGVC) datasets contain small sample sizes, along with significant intra-class variation and inter-class similarity. While prior work has addressed intra-class variation using localization and segmentation techniques, inter-class similarity may also affect feature learning and reduce classification performance. In this work, we address this problem using a novel optimization procedure for the end-to-end neural network training on FGVC tasks. Our procedure, called Pairwise Confusion (PC) reduces overfitting by intentionally {introducing confusion} in the activations. With PC regularization, we obtain state-of-the-art performance on six of the most widely-used FGVC datasets and demonstrate improved localization ability. {PC} is easy to implement, does not need excessive hyperparameter tuning during training, and does not add significant overhead during test time.Comment: Camera-Ready version for ECCV 201

Experimental and neural network approach to effective electrical conductivity of carbon nanotubes dispersed chiral nematic liquid crystals

Single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT’s) doped cholesteric liquid crystal composite has been prepared and characterized for their electrical responses. Also theoretically, an artificial neural network (ANN) approach has been trained for predicting the effective electrical conductivity of these composites. The ANN models are based on a feedforward backpropagation (FFBP) network with such training functions as the adaptive learning rate (GDX), gradient descent with adaptive learning rate (GDA), gradient descent (GD), conjugates gradient with Powell-Beale restarts (CGB), one-step secant (OSS), and Levenberg–Marquardt (LM), and training algorithms run at the uniform threshold transfer functions-Tangent sigmoid (TANSIG) and pure linear (PURELIN) for 1000 epochs. Our modeling confirms that the expected effective electrical conductivity by different training functions of ANN is in higher agreement with the experimental results of SWCNT doped CLC composites

A short conserved motif in ALYREF directs cap- and EJC-dependent assembly of export complexes on spliced mRNAs.

The export of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) is the final of several nuclear posttranscriptional steps of gene expression. The formation of export-competent mRNPs involves the recruitment of export factors that are assumed to facilitate transport of the mature mRNAs. Using in vitro splicing assays, we show that a core set of export factors, including ALYREF, UAP56 and DDX39, readily associate with the spliced RNAs in an EJC (exon junction complex)- and cap-dependent manner. In order to elucidate how ALYREF and other export adaptors mediate mRNA export, we conducted a computational analysis and discovered four short, conserved, linear motifs present in RNA-binding proteins. We show that mutation in one of the new motifs (WxHD) in an unstructured region of ALYREF reduced RNA binding and abolished the interaction with eIF4A3 and CBP80. Additionally, the mutation impaired proper localization to nuclear speckles and export of a spliced reporter mRNA. Our results reveal important details of the orchestrated recruitment of export factors during the formation of export competent mRNPs