Design of a 3.3 V analog video line driver with controlled output impedance

The internet revolution has led to the demand for high speed, low cost solutions for providing high bandwidth to the consumers. Cable and DSL systems address these requirements through sophisticated analog and digital signal processing schemes. A key element of the analog front end of such systems is the line driver which interfaces with the transmission medium such as co-axial cable or twisted pair. The line driver is an amplifier that provides the necessary output current to drive the low impedance of the line. The main requirements for design are high output swing, high linearity, matched impedance to the line and power efficiency. These requirements are addressed by a class AB amplifier whose output impedance can be controlled through feedback. The property of this topology is that when the gain is unity, the output resistance of the driver is matched to the line resistance. Unity gain is achieved for varying line conditions through a tuning loop consisting of peak-to-peak detectors and differential difference amplifier. The design is fabricated in 0.5 micron AMI CMOS process technology. For line variations from 65 to 170 ohms, the gain is unity with an error of 3 % and the impedance matching error is 20 % at the worst-case. The linearity is better than 50 dB for a 1.2 V peak-to-peak signal over the signal bandwidth from 10 kHz to 5 MHz and the line resitance range from 65 to 160 ohms

Curcumin―The Paradigm of a Multi-Target Natural Compound with Applications in Cancer Prevention and Treatment

As cancer is a multifactor disease, it may require treatment with compounds able to target multiple intracellular components. We summarize here how curcumin is able to modulate many components of intracellular signaling pathways implicated in inflammation, cell proliferation and invasion and to induce genetic modulations eventually leading to tumor cell death. Clinical applications of this natural compound were initially limited by its low solubility and bioavailability in both plasma and tissues but combination with adjuvant and delivery vehicles was reported to largely improve bio-availability of curcumin. Moreover, curcumin was reported to act in synergism with several natural compounds or synthetic agents commonly used in chemotherapy. Based on this, curcumin could thus be considered as a good candidate for cancer prevention and treatment when used alone or in combination with other conventional treatments

Natural Rabies Infection in a Domestic Fowl (Gallus domesticus): A Report from India.

Rabies is a fatal encephalitis caused by viruses belonging to the genus Lyssavirus of the family Rhabdoviridae. It is a viral disease primarily affecting mammals, though all warm blooded animals are susceptible. Experimental rabies virus infection in birds has been reported, but naturally occurring infection of birds has been documented very rarely.The carcass of a domestic fowl (Gallus domesticus), which had been bitten by a stray dog one month back, was brought to the rabies diagnostic laboratory. A necropsy was performed and the brain tissue obtained was subjected to laboratory tests for rabies. The brain tissue was positive for rabies viral antigens by fluorescent antibody test (FAT) confirming a diagnosis of rabies. Phylogenetic analysis based on nucleoprotein gene sequencing revealed that the rabies virus strain from the domestic fowl belonged to a distinct and relatively rare Indian subcontinent lineage.This case of naturally acquired rabies infection in a bird species, Gallus domesticus, being reported for the first time in India, was identified from an area which has a significant stray dog population and is highly endemic for canine rabies. It indicates that spill over of infection even to an unusual host is possible in highly endemic areas. Lack of any clinical signs, and fewer opportunities for diagnostic laboratory testing of suspected rabies in birds, may be the reason for disease in these species being undiagnosed and probably under-reported. Butchering and handling of rabies virus- infected poultry may pose a potential exposure risk

Phylogenetic tree.

<p>Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree was constructed with MEGA 5 software using nucleoprotein gene sequences of rabies virus isolates from GenBank representing various geographical regions in India and two other countries from the Indian subcontinent. Bootstrap replication values of 1000 were used and the numbers below the branches indicate the percentage bootstrap support for each cluster. Reference strains (M13215 PV strain and AF406696 CVS strain France) and Arctic Fox Canada strain (RAVN783FX) have been included for comparison.</p