Socio-economic status scales updated for 2017

The health status of any country depends on the socio-economic status (SES) and the per capita income of its citizens. The SES also decides the affordability and utilization of the health facilities. Constant changes in the price of goods in the country due to inflation make it mandatory to constantly update the income-based socioeconomic scales. This paper attempts to provide updates in Kuppuswamy, B.G. Prasad and udai pareek socioeconomic scales for 2017

Unsafe Sex-A Serious Concern among Underprivileged Youth in Delhi

Premarital sex in adolescence mainly involves high risk partners or multiple partners posing a challenge to reproductive health and control of sexually transmitted infections & HIV/ AIDS. Present study was carried out in a resettlement colony of East Delhi among unmarried males of 15-24 years to find out their sexual habits and practices.818 subjects were studied through surveying 50% of households in the colony. 58% of the subjects did not have knowledge of unsafe sex. Almost 30% of the youth were engaged in sexual intercourse. Mean age of first sexual exposure was 16.1 years (median-16 years). More than three fourth of subjects who had history of sexual exposure were inconsistent in using of condoms

Structural analysis and theoretical investigations in Pb additive Se-Te-Ge chalcogenide nano-composites

In the present study, the impact of lead addition on the structural and physical properties of newly prepared quaternary (Se80Te20)94-xGe6Pbx (x= 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10) chalcogenide nano-composites has been studied in detail. Nano particle size of each Pb addtive chalcogenide alloy has been deduced using the highest intensity peak of the X-ray diffractograms and it has also been confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The detailed study of physical parameters namely average co-ordination number (Z) and number of constraints, lone pair electrons, glass transition temperature, heat of atomization, cohesive energy and energy gap has been made. It is observed that Z and constraints have been found to increase with the addition in Pb content. However, all the other investigated parameters viz lone pair electrons, glass transition temperature, heat of atomization, cohesive energy and energy gap show a reverse variation. Glass transition temperature has been estimated theoretically using Tichy-Ticha approach and found to be in consonance with the experimental results. The cohesive energy has been calculated using chemical bond approach (CBA) model. Due to lower band gap of Pb, the overall bandgap of the composition has been found to decrease with Pb at.wt.%

A Novel Technique for Secure Information Transmission in Videos Using Salt Cryptography

This paper presents a new technique for transmitting secret information securely from one party to another by embedding this information into a video after encryption through salt cryptography. We have tried to utilize the advantages of salt cryptography which has been ignored by data hiding community. In this encryption method some random data is added to the secret keys and passwords. We will define this random data as a salt which is needed to access the encrypted data, along with the password. Alone these passwords have no use since they will be able to locate the hidden data only when mixed with proper salt. This salt is managed by a certified third party. Different salt is created for different pairs of communicating parties. The purpose of salt is to add arbitrary random data to the string being hashed, such that you increase the length of input to hash. We have also introduced the concept of Enterprise Dependent Value (EDD), which are the embedding values corresponding to the binary digits and are specific to the communicating enterprises. The effectiveness of the techniques has been shown through experimental results. The performance of the proposed technique has been compared with the other techniques of watermarking, steganography and encryption. Keywords: Cryptography, Decryption , Encryption , Salt, Steganography , Video watermarkin

Effects of Substrate Heating and Wettability on Evaporation Dynamics and Deposition Patterns for a Sessile Water Droplet Containing Colloidal Particles

Effects of substrate temperature, substrate wettability and particles concentration are experimentally investigated for evaporation of a sessile water droplet containing colloidal particles. Time-varying droplet shapes and temperature of the liquid-gas interface are measured using high-speed visualization and infrared thermography, respectively. The motion of the particles inside the evaporating droplet is qualitatively visualized by an optical microscope and profile of final particle deposit is measured by an optical profilometer. On a non-heated hydrophilic substrate, a ring-like deposit forms after the evaporation, as reported extensively in the literature; while on a heated hydrophilic substrate, a thinner ring with an inner deposit is reported in the present work. The latter is attributed to Marangoni convection and recorded motion of the particles as well as measured temperature gradient across the liquid-gas interface confirms this hypothesis. The thinning of the ring scales with the substrate temperature and is reasoned to stronger Marangoni convection at larger substrate temperature. In case of a non-heated hydrophobic substrate, an inner deposit forms due to very early depinning of the contact line. On the other hand, in case of a heated hydrophobic substrate, the substrate heating as well as larger particle concentration helps in the pinning of the contact line, which results in a thin ring with an inner deposit. We propose a regime map for predicting three types of deposits namely, ring, thin ring with inner deposit and inner deposit - for varying substrate temperature, substrate wettability and particles concentration. A first-order model corroborates the liquid-gas interface temperature measurements and variation in the measured ring profile with the substrate temperature

Effect of Ionic Strength on Porphyrin Drugs Interaction with Quadruplex DNA Formed by the Promoter Region of C-myc and Bcl2 Oncogenes

C-myc and Bcl2 are well characterized oncogenes that are capable of forming G-quadruplex structures. Promoter regions of C-myc and Bcl2 forming G-quadruplex structures are chemically synthesized and G-quadruplex structure is formed in presence of 100 mM potassium ion. Three different porphyrin drugs, namely TMPyP2, TMPyP3, and TMPyP4 are allowed to interact with quadruplex DNA complex and the site and nature of interaction are studied. Drug interactions with quadruplex DNA were carried out in different potassium ionic strengths using fluorescence spectroscopy. It is found that fluorescence hypochromicity decreases with an increase in ionic strength in the case of TMPyP4, TMPyP3, and TMPyP2. Fluorescence titration studies and Job plots indicate that four molecules of TMPyP4, two molecules of TMPyP3 and TMPyP2 are interacting with one molecule of quadruplex DNA

A comparative study of efficacy and safety of flupirtine versus piroxicamin patients with low back pain

Background: Low back pain is a common musculoskeletal symptom caused by a variety of disorders that affect the lumbar spine. The most frustrating aspect in the treatment of low back pain is that there is “no magic bullets”. The objective of the study was to compare the efficacy and safety of flupirtine versus piroxicam in patients with back pain.Methods: This was prospective, open labeled, randomized, comparative clinical study conducted by the Departments Orthopedics and Pharmacology, BMC&H, Chitradurga. Study was conducted on 60 patients of either sex, aged above 18 years with low back pain. Assessments were done for Finger-to-Floor Distance (FFD), lumbar pain, Lasegue’s sign, tenderness of vertebral muscles, pain & sensory disturbance in lower limbs and response to therapy for efficacy. Parametric data was analyzed by t-test and proportions were compared using Chi-square test.Results: 74 patients were randomized to 2 groups of 37 each. Group I patients received flupirtine maleate 100 mg twice daily and Group II patients received piroxicam 20 mg twice daily for 14 days. 30 patients in each group completed the study and were analysed. On intergroup comparison, there was no statistical difference (p>0.05) in the efficacy parameters of finger-to-floor distance (FFD), lumbar pain, Lasegue’s sign, tenderness of vertebral muscles, sensory disturbance in lower limbs, VAS scores & global assessment of response to therapy. 13.3% in flupirtine group and 16.6% in piroxicam group reported adverse events.  Conclusions: Both flupiritine and piroxicam were equally effective but flupirtine was better tolerated than piroxicam.

Stress Activated P38 Mapk Regulates Cell Cycle via AP-1 Factors in Areca Extract Exposed Human Lung Epithelial Cells

Areca nut chewing habits are associated with several oral manifestations like leukoplakia, submucous fibrosis and oral squamous cell carcinoma. Although numerous evidence on areca toxicity is known but the mechanistic pathway of disease causation is to be studied. Aqueous areca nut extract treated A549 cells showed reduced cell viability by 48 h with IC50 value of 0.50%. The toxic nature of areca nut induced the production of reactive oxygen species with decreased anti-oxidant glutathione S transferase levels lead to altered redox homeostasis. PCR studies showed decreased mRNA levels of Jun and Fos AP-1 subunits on extract treatment by 48 h. The protein levels of PCNA, CDK4, RB, p53, c-Jun and c-Fos were found to be downregulated with upregulated CDK inhibitor p21 on extract treatment as compared to control. Results of FACS analysis further confirm G1/S phase cell cycle arrest on areca nut extract exposure. The regulation of downstream AP-1 subunits by MAPKs was studied by using specific inhibitors of ERK, JNK and p38 along with areca nut extract. Results showed the redox activation of MAP kinases down regulated the mRNA levels of AP-1 subunits in aqueous areca nut extract treated cells. Hence the present study aids in elucidating the role of MAP kinases in regulating the AP-1 subunits and their implications on target genes that are involved regulation of various cellular processes. Further, it would help in understanding the mechanistic aspects of the diseased state which may facilitate in designing of new therapeutic modalities that could help in cancer management

Catalytic Dehydrogenation of para-Diethyl Benzene to para-Divinyl Benzene over Iron Oxide Supported Catalyst

The vapor-phase catalytic dehydrogenation of para-diethyl benzene (PDEB) to para-divinyl benzene (PDVB) with super-heated steam as a diluent was investigated using alumina supported iron oxide catalyst system. During the catalytic dehydrogenation reaction, ethyl styrene (EST) and thermal cracking products were observed as side products. It was found that various reaction parameters influence the rate of dehydrogenation reaction. However, the reaction is favored by high temperature and low reaction pressure. Moreover, addition of potassium into iron-oxide catalyst acts as a promoter and thereby increases the efficiency of the catalyst. The conversion of PDEB and yield of PDVB also increases as the Water/PDEB flow ratio increases. Copyright © 2019 BCREC Group. All rights reserve

Computer Applications in Metallurgical Research

This paper outlines the current efforts in computer applications in metallurgical research at the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad. Work being done on armour penetration studies, optimization of armour profiles for fighting vehicles, computer control of multifunction 2000 tonne forge press, drawing of processing mechanism maps, process modelling of titanium sponge production and methods of curve fitting to experimental data, is described and briefly discussed