Visual evoked potential changes in patients with diabetes mellitus without retinopathy

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder, associated with a great deal of morbidity in the patients due its chronic complications including diabetic retinopathy. Visual evoked potentials (VEPs), which assess the functional integrity of the visual functions from retina to visual cortex, can prove to be a sensitive tool to study the possible effects that diabetes may exert on the visual system. In patients without clinically evident retinopathy, electrophysiological evidence of visual dysfunction can help in early detection of the visual involvement. Hence, this study attempted to detect the presence of such visual dysfunctions in the diabetics without retinopathy by pattern- reversal visual evoked potentials (PRVEPs).Methods: PRVEP was recorded in 116 subjects (64 diabetics without retinopathy and 52 controls). P100 latency, N75-P100 amplitude and interocular latency differences were compared between the diabetics and the controls. The parameters were compared among the groups with different duration of the disease as well as those with different glycaemic status.Results: The study has demonstrated significant prolongation of mean P100 latency, reduction in N75-P100 amplitudes and increased interocular latency difference in the diabetics as compared to the control group. The duration of the illness was found to alter the mean P100 latency while the glycaemic status of the diabetics was not found to be correlated with the PRVEP abnormalities.Conclusions: VEP responses are deranged in diabetic patients before the development of retinopathy. VEP measurements can be used for the early diagnosis of visual dysfunctions in the diabetes for a better prognosis of the condition.

Efficient Numerical Solution of Diffusion Convection Problem of Chemical Engineering

In this paper, the cubic B-spline collocation scheme is implemented to find numerical solution of diffusion convection problem of chemical engineering. The scheme is based on the Crank–Nicolson formulation for time integration and cubic B-spline functions for space integration. The numerical results are found to be in good agreement with the exact solutions. Results are also shown graphically and are compared with results given in the literature. Keywords: Diffusion; Cubic B-spline; Collocation; Tridiagonal system; Thomas algorithm

Visual function impairment in migraine: Cerebral versus retinal deficit

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Physical, textural and sensory attributes of plain set yoghurt made employing ultrafiltration technique as affected by titratable acidity during incubation

Effect of stopping incubation at different treatable acidity levels {0.738±0.01% lactic acid (LA) (T1), 0.815±0.005% LA (T2) and 0.927±0.01% LA (T3)} of plain set yoghurt made employing ultrafiltration technique was investigated on physical, textural and sensory properties. Water holding capacity was observed to be significantly (p<0.05) higher in T2 compared to T1 and T3. Textural attributes increased significantly (p<0.05) with increasing yoghurt acidity level. Treatment T1 had significantly (p<0.05) lower flavour and acidity scores. Body & texture and overall acceptability scores were observed to be significantly (P<0.05) higher in T2 treatment. Hence, maintaining yoghurt acidity of around 0.815±0.005% LA during incubation was observed to be optimum

Adolescent Mental Health: From Normalcy to Illness

Adolescence is a period of multiple changes in the body which can lead on to stress, behavioural or emotional state. Behaviour during adolescence is driven by hormonal changes like increase in growth hormone, steroid hormones etc. There is pruning of neural pathways, such that the parts of brain that are most active during adolescence are best developed and those parts that are not utilized remain under-developed later on in adulthood. Common mental disorders during adolescence are emotional disorders like anxiety disorders, depression; conduct disorders like oppositional defiant disorders; hyperkinetic disorders and other psychotic disorders. Multiple tools or questionnaires are available to apply on adolescents and children for screening as well as diagnosing them with mental disorders like Rutter Child Scale A and Rutter Child Scale B, Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), K-SADS (Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia), ISC (Interview Schedule for Children), CAS (Child Assessment Schedule), CAPA (Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment), DISC (Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children) and the DICA (Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents) etc. Poverty, social disadvantage, violence, child abuse, academic failure are some of the risk factors associated with mental disorders. Prevalence of any psychiatric disorder in India is 11% and 8% among boys and girls respectively compared to US where it is 46% in the age group of 13-16 years irrespective of sex. nothing much has been achieved for adolescents under national mental health programme. Interventions like life skills education through community programs, internet or at school can help adolescents bring confidence in them and ability to cope with the stres

Fixed Point Theorem For Weakly Compatible Maps In Fuzzy Metric Space

In this paper, the concept of weakly compatible maps in hausdorff fuzzy metric space has been applied to prove fuzzy fixed point theorems. A fixed point theorems for six self maps has been established using the concept of compatible maps of type hausdorff, which generalizes the result of Cho [1]. Keywords: Fuzzy metric space, fuzzy fixed point, t-norm and weak compatible map

Participatory evaluation of advanced potato (Solanum tuberosum) clones for water stress tolerance

An attempt was made to introduce potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in hot arid water scarce zone of Western Rajasthan, India. Eight CIP-bred potato clones were evaluated along with two controls, viz. Kufri Pukhraj and Kufri Surya on farmer’s field at Jodhpur, Rajasthan under normal and moderate water stress regime during three winter crop seasons (2012-15). Pooled analysis revealed that CIP clone 397006.18 (34.0 tonnes/ha) out yielded Kufri Pukhraj (26.8 tonnes/ha) and Kufri Surya (20.2 tonnes/ha) for marketable tuber yield. This clone maintained yield under normal and deficit irrigation and attained 26.9% higher marketable yield under normal irrigations, which further improved by 31.3% under deficit water stress regime over the best control Kufri Pukhraj. This clone recorded highest tuber dry matter content (22.7%), statistically superior to both control Kufri Pukhraj (17.9%) and Kufri Surya (21.4%). Clone 397006.18 had highest mean drought tolerance index value (1.16) and least total weight loss under normal irrigation (4.9%) and water stress conditions (8.6%) up to 60 days of storage. Preference yield analysis by potato growers showed that they liked this clone most and its overall acceptability was fairly better for all organoleptic traits. Results of field study and participatory varietal selection indicated that clone 397006.18 performed better for tuber productivity under deficit water management, exhibited drought tolerance traits and achieved overall acceptance by the farmers in Western Rajasthan

Performance studies of the two-step multiboson algorithm in compact lattice QED

The performance of the two-step multiboson (TSMB) algorithm is investigated in comparison with the hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) method for compact lattice QED with standard Wilson fermions both in the Coulomb and confinement phases. The restriction to QED allows for extensive measurements of autocorrelation times. Preliminary results show that the TSMB algorithm is at least competitive with standard HMC.Comment: Talk at Lattice2001(algorithms), Berlin, 3 pages, LaTe