Evaluation of plantar fascia using high-resolution ultrasonography in clinically diagnosed cases of plantar fasciitis

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of high-resolution ultrasonography in the assessment of plantar fascia in individuals with heel pain, before and after treatment. Material and methods: This study was conducted from 2016 to 2019, during which time 44 clinically diagnosed patients of plantar fasciitis were compared to 50 normal volunteers. There were 25 males and 25 females in the control group and 42 females and two males in the study group. Thirty-eight patients had unilateral disease, and six patients had bilateral disease. The thickness of the plantar fascia was measured just anterior to its calcaneal attachment using ultrasonography. Body mass index (BMI) was also calculated in both groups. Results: The plantar fascia was 2-4 mm thick in the control group whereas it was > 4 mm thick in 48 heels in the study group. With cut-off of > 4 mm as diagnostic of plantar fasciitis, this study had a sensitivity of 96%, specificity of 100%, and accuracy of 98%. BMI was increased in 60% of female patients. All patients were treated with local infiltration of corticosteroid. In 37/42 patients (43 heels) who had improved clinically, the thickness of plantar fascia was reduced to 4 mm being suggestive of plantar fasciitis. Ultrasound can also be used to evaluate treatment response. Ultrasonography helps the clinician in confirming the diagnosis of plantar fasciitis and also in assessing the response to treatment

Realization Of An 8-bit Pipelined Microprocessor in Verilog HDL

Pipelining is a technique of decomposing a sequential process into sub-operations, with each sub process being divided segment that operates concurrently with all other segments. A pipeline may be visualized as a collection of processing segments through which binary information flows. Each segment performs partial processing segments dictated by the way the task is partitioned. The result obtained in one segment is transferred to subsequent segments in each step. The final result is obtained after the data has passed through all segments.This paper develops a code for the implementation of an 8-Bit microprocessor which implements instruction pipelining. After synthesis, an FPGA realization may be obtained . Simulation using Xilinx and ModelSim also produces favourable results which showcase the speedup (in terms of time) to carry out a program as compared to a non-pipelined version of this microprocessor. Keywords:Pipelining, Segments,sysnthesis,realization,FPGA,microprocesso

Complete Remission in Newly Diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus Patient

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease affects pancreatic beta cells. Usually it has a life long duration, however, in few cases, it can be transient. We reported a 20 year old male patient who visited the diabetic clinic of Lok Nayak Hospital with classical symptoms of type 1 diabetes mellitus. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on the basis of lab parameters. He was found to be positive for ICA512 and GAD antibodies. Measurement of C-peptide was also done by mixed meal tolerance test. Initially, Insulin was advised to control hyperglycemia. After 2 weeks, he was given 14 infusions of Teplizumab injection, one infusion per day and the same has been repeated after six months. As per clinical judgment, it was assumed that he was not on placebo arm and probably received Teplizumab as investigational product. Teplizumab injection drastically reduces the insulin doses and after some time, his insulin was completely waived off. Complete remission was seen in this patient after treatment with Teplizumab injection. During the 4 years follow-up, this remission is still ongoing in this patient. He had normal fasting and home blood glucose concentration with normal HbA1c without insulin therapy from last 4 years. To keep his blood sugar values under control, patient was also advised regular exercise and a diabetic diet

INFLUENCE OF LINEAR MIXING ON CONTAMINATED SNOW SPECTRAL SIGNATURES

Experiments using an SVC spectroradiometer ranging from 0.35 to 2.5 µm are being conducted in the field as part of the current research in order to gain a better understanding of how contamination affects spectral characteristics. Utilizing a spectroradiometer (0.35–2.5 µm), studies were carried out in the field to determine the linear mixing of snow pollutants (such as coal, ash, wood, and soil) with snow in terms of concentration of contaminants in order to simulate and comprehend the spectrum response of real-world scenarios. Present studies contribute to mapping snow and contaminated snow pixels in remote sensing RS data based on of linear mixing, and to identifying and discriminating between different types of snow contaminants in respect of linear mixing manner, via appropriate wavelength selections for future studies

On the convergent flow property behaviour of different fine dry powders across wide size ranges, and the concept of critical particle size

It is well known that fine, dry powders exhibit cohesive behaviour and that this increases with finer particle size. To date, no standardised model has been put forwards that can be used to represent this variation, because even for the same particle size, each powder substance has a different Flow Function from others. In this study, a substantial number of dry powders (not modified with glidants, surface coating etc) have been subjected to shear testing to obtain their Flow Functions, each across a range of particle sizes. Plotting the data on the ratio of unconfined failure strength to compaction stress, versus particle size (for a given compaction strength) shows that they exhibit strikingly similar behaviour except that they are shifted in terms of particle size. The authors therefore propose the concept of “critical particle size” at which a powder transitions from free flowing to non-free-flowing. Using this concept, it is found that when plotting the data on the basis of the ratio of median particle size to critical particle size for each powder, the data for all powders collapses onto a single curve. This potentially makes the representation of the cohesive behaviour of powders simpler in that for any given substance, its entire flow behaviour across all size ranges can be represented by the single value of critical particle size. Once this critical particle size is determined, then flow functions of the same substance in different particle sizes can be predicted by reference to the one standard curve. This has great potential for use in digital assistance to the formulation of powders in many different industries, especially pharmaceuticals, foods and battery materials where particle size may need to be changed for the purposes of functionality, and the effect on handling and packing properties computed

Electrostatic charging of fine powders and assessment of charge polarity using an inductive charge sensor

Electrostatic charging of powders becomes important, when particles become smaller, especially for fine powders at micron or sub-micron size. Charging of powders causes strong particle adhesion and consequently difficulties in processes such as blending or mixing, and sieving, etc. Not only does the charge of powders influence the process and the quality of the products, but also the discharge creates risks of dust explosion. Assessing powder charge and the hazards in manufacturing can be difficult. One of the major challenges is to evaluate the charge levels and polarity in the powders but this requires a significant number of tests to detect charge tendency and distributions in bulk materials, which is time-consuming. In this paper, electrostatic charging of powders in material handling processes and the associated hazards are briefly reviewed. For an assessment, the challenges for sensing electrostatic charges of particulate solids, particularly for fine powders, are discussed. It was revealed that sensing the charge polarity for representative samples of powders can be the main challenge because of the difficulty in separation of the charged particles. The inductive charge sensor showed great potential to measure charge levels and polarity distributions in powders. Experimental trials for several fine powders showed that the inductive charge sensor can be used for rapidly assessing chargeability and charge polarity distribution of powders