A RARE SEROTYPE SALMONELLA WELTEVREDEN CAUSING ENTERIC FEVER IN AN HIV POSITIVE PATIENT IN MANGALORE

Enteric fever is endemic in India. Usually caused by Salmonella enterica serotypes Typhi and Salmonella enterica serotype Paratyphi A. Enteric fever due to non typhoidal salmonellae is rare. We report an extremely rare case of enteric fever caused by Salmonella enterica serotype Weltevreden in a HIV positive 27 year old male

ANTIMUTAGENIC POTENTIAL OF LIV52 BY AMES SALMONELLA/MAMMALIAN: MICROSOME MUTAGENICITY ASSAY

ABSTRACTObjective: Liv52, a nontoxic herbal preparation is reported to be clinically active in hepatotoxicity and a wide range of hepatic disorders. This studywas undertaken to evaluate the mutagenic/antimutagenic potential of Liv52 using Salmonella mutagenicity test.Methods: Ames Salmonella/Mammalian - microsome mutagenicity test was used to evaluate the mutagenic or antimutagenic potential of Liv52.Salmonella typhimurium tester strains TA1537, TA1538, TA100, and TA102 were used for mutagenicity testing. The antimutagenicity study wascarried out in tester strains TA1538 and TA100 against various standard mutagens with and without metabolic activation.Results: Liv52 did not show any mutagenic potential both with and without metabolic activation, whereas in TA1538 and TA 100 tester strains, Liv52showed 48.4% and 47.2% of inhibition of his+ revertants induced by 4-nitro-O-phenylenediamine, respectively. Further with metabolic activationin TA1538, Liv52 showed 99.8%, 99.8%, and 100% inhibition of his+ revertants induced by 2-aminofluorene, 2-anthranine, and cigarette smokecondensate, respectively. In TA100 maximum of 100%, 100%, 97.7%, and 100% inhibition of his+ revertants induced by 2-aminofluorene, 2-anthranine,benzo(a)pyrene, and cigarette smoke condensate, respectively, were observed. A significant enhancement of inhibition of his+ revertants induced byall the above said mutagens were observed in preincubation modification method.Conclusion: Liv52 was found to be nonmutagenic in Salmonella assay, whereas manifested the antimutagenic potential both with and withoutmetabolic activation. The enhanced antimutagenic activity of Liv52 on preincubation indicates that the antimutagenic factor(s) may be desmutagenicin nature. The exact mechanism by which Liv52 exerts antimutagenic potential is not known. The possibility of having diverse antimutagenic factorsin Liv52 which act by different mechanisms are strongly indicated.Keywords: Liv52 syrup, Salmonella mutagenicity test, Ames test, Desmutagens

Generalized small-signal modelling of dual active bridge DC/DC converter

this paper presents a novel generalised approach of the small-signal modelling of dual active bridge (DAB) DC/DC converter. The adopted analysis is based on a per-unit fundamental frequency representation of the DAB. The outcome of the proposed modelling approach is a small signal, linearised, state-space DAB model; which is considered as a main building block for future control applications. The developed small signal DAB model includes all possible degrees of freedom affecting the performance of the DAB; this includes the voltage conversion ratio to allow the study of all DAB operation modes (i.e.: unity-gain and buck/boost modes.). Furthermore, since triple phase shift control (TPS) is used in this development work, the proposed model incorporates phase shift in addition to duty ratios. This feature allows for bridge voltage regulation, which is essential for efficient DAB operation in the case of buck/boost operation. Another key achievement is that the proposed small signal modelling methodology can be applied to any bidirectional DC-DC converter regardless of ratings, parameter values and number of ports. Extensive simulation is carried out to verify the proposed analysis

The Influence of High-Energy Lithium Ion Irradiation on Electrical Characteristics of Silicon and GaAs Solar Cells

Space-grade Si and GaAs solar cells were irradiated with 15 & 40 MeV Li ions. Illuminated (AM0 condition) and unilluminated I-V curves reveal that the effect of high-energy Li ion irradiation has produced similar effects to that of proton irradiation. However, an additional, and different, defect mechanism is suggested to dominate in the heavier-ion results. Comparison is made with proton-irradiated solar-cell work and with non-ionizing energy-loss (NIEL) radiation-damage models.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figures, Data presented at 2006 NSREC, Final Version to be published in IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 53, NO. 6, December 2006. Index Terms: GaAs, Ion-irradiation, Lithium, NIEL, Photovoltaic cells, Radiation effects, Silico

Tunneling and Non-Universality in Continuum Percolation Systems

The values obtained experimentally for the conductivity critical exponent in numerous percolation systems, in which the interparticle conduction is by tunnelling, were found to be in the range of $t_0$ and about $t_0+10$, where $t_0$ is the universal conductivity exponent. These latter values are however considerably smaller than those predicted by the available ``one dimensional"-like theory of tunneling-percolation. In this letter we show that this long-standing discrepancy can be resolved by considering the more realistic "three dimensional" model and the limited proximity to the percolation threshold in all the many available experimental studiesComment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Testing Point Null Hypothesis of a Normal Mean and the Truth: 21st Century Perspective

Testing a point (sharp) null hypothesis is arguably the most widely used statistical inferential procedure in many fields of scientific research, nevertheless, the most controversial, and misapprehended. Since 1935 when Buchanan-Wollaston raised the first criticism against hypothesis testing, this foundational field of statistics has drawn increasingly active and stronger opposition, including draconian suggestions that statistical significance testing should be abandoned or even banned. Statisticians should stop ignoring these accumulated and significant anomalies within the current point-null hypotheses paradigm and rebuild healthy foundations of statistical science. The foundation for a paradigm shift in testing statistical hypotheses is suggested, which is testing interval null hypotheses based on implications of the Zero probability paradox. It states that in a real-world research point-null hypothesis of a normal mean has zero probability. This implies that formulated point-null hypothesis of a mean in the context of the simple normal model is almost surely false. Thus, Zero probability paradox points to the root cause of so-called large n problem in significance testing. It discloses that there is no point in searching for a cure under the current point-null paradigm

NASAL CARRIAGE OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON METHICILLINRESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS AMONG STUDENTS OF A SOUTH INDIAN MEDICAL COLLEGE - PREVALENCE AND ANTIBIOGRAM PATTERN

ABSTRACTObjective: There is paucity of information on carriage of Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin Resistant S.aureus from developing nations includingthe medical students who could be the potential transmitters. Present study was aimed at establishing the prevalence and antibiogram pattern ofS. aureus with special emphasis on MRSA among II year MBBS students of Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore.Methods: A total of 148 students were participated in this study. Swabs taken from both anterior nares were processed, and the growth of S. aureuswas confirmed by standard procedure. Further categorization of S. aureus into MRSA was done using cefoxitin disc diffusion method, along with theantibiogram to other common drugs.Results: The number of strains of S. aureus isolated from our 148 participants was 78 with a percentage rate of 52.7. Of the 78 isolates of S. aureus,9 (11.5%) were MRSA. The overall MRSA carriage rate was 6.1%.Conclusion: The S. aureus and MRSA carriage rates recorded in this study were significantly higher when compared with other reported studies. Itwas observed that risk factors like use of antibiotics in past 6 months and snoring were found to be statistically significant in nasal carriage status ofS. aureus. Out of nine MRSA carriers, six were found to be having the parents who were busy clinicians by occupation and the close contact with themcould be the prime factor in the acquisition of MRSA carriage status.Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, Nasal carriage, Medical students

Move Table: An Intelligent Software Tool for OptimalPath Finding and Halt Schedule Generation

This study aims to help army officials in taking decisions before war to decide the optimalpath for army troops moving between two points in a real world digital terrain, consideringfactors like traveled distance, terrain type, terrain slope, and road network. There can optionallybe one or more enemies (obstacles) located on the terrain which should be avoided. A tile-basedA* search strategy with diagonal distance and tie-breaker heuristics is proposed for finding theoptimal path between source and destination nodes across a real-world  3-D  terrain. A performancecomparison (time analysis, search space analysis, and accuracy) has been made between themultiresolution A* search and the proposed tile-based A* search for large-scale digital terrainmaps. Different heuristics, which are used by the algorithms to guide these to the goal node,are presented and compared to overcome some of the computational constraints associated withpath finding on large digital terrains. Finally, a halt schedule is generated using the optimal path,weather condition, moving time, priority and type of a column, so that the senior military plannerscan strategically decide in advance the time and locations where the troops have to halt orovertake other troops depending on their priority and also the time of reaching the destination