Observations and models for needle-tissue interactions

The asymmetry of a bevel-tip needle results in the needle naturally bending when it is inserted into soft tissue. In this study we present a mechanics-based model that calculates the deflection of the needle embedded in an elastic medium. Microscopic observations for several needle- gel interactions were used to characterize the interactions at the bevel tip and along the needle shaft. The model design was guided by microscopic observations of several needle- gel interactions. The energy-based model formulation incor- porates tissue-specific parameters such as rupture toughness, nonlinear material elasticity, and interaction stiffness, and needle geometric and material properties. Simulation results follow similar trends (deflection and radius of curvature) to those observed in macroscopic experimental studies of a robot- driven needle interacting with different kinds of gels. These results contribute to a mechanics-based model of robotic needle steering, extending previous work on kinematic models

Major Limb Amputations: A Tertiary Hospital Experience in Northwestern Tanzania.

Major limb amputation is reported to be a major but preventable public health problem that is associated with profound economic, social and psychological effects on the patient and family especially in developing countries where the prosthetic services are poor. The purpose of this study was to outline the patterns, indications and short term complications of major limb amputations and to compare our experience with that of other published data. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study that was conducted at Bugando Medical Centre between March 2008 and February 2010. All patients who underwent major limb amputation were, after informed consent for the study, enrolled into the study. Data were collected using a pre-tested, coded questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 11.5 computer software. A total of 162 patients were entered into the study. Their ages ranged between 2-78 years (mean 28.30 ± 13.72 days). Males outnumbered females by a ratio of 2:1. The majority of patients (76.5%) had primary or no formal education. One hundred and twelve (69.1%) patients were unemployed. The most common indication for major limb amputation was diabetic foot complications in 41.9%, followed by trauma in 38.4% and vascular disease in 8.6% respectively. Lower limbs were involved in 86.4% of cases and upper limbs in 13.6% of cases giving a lower limb to upper limb ratio of 6.4:1 Below knee amputation was the most common procedure performed in 46.3%. There was no bilateral limb amputation. The most common additional procedures performed were wound debridement, secondary suture and skin grafting in 42.3%, 34.5% and 23.2% respectively. Two-stage operation was required in 45.4% of patients. Revision amputation rate was 29.6%. Post-operative complication rate was 33.3% and surgical site infection was the most common complication accounting for 21.0%. The mean length of hospital stay was 22.4 days and mortality rate was 16.7%. Complications of diabetic foot ulcers and trauma resulting from road traffic crashes were the most common indications for major limb amputation in our environment. The majority of these amputations are preventable by provision of health education, early presentation and appropriate management of the common indications

Genetic diversity studies of cumin (Cuminun cyminum L.) genotypes in western plains of Rajasthan

Genetic diversity was studied on fifty-four genotypes of cumin, Cuminum cyminum L. at “Agricultural Research Station, Mandor, Jodhpur” during rabi season 2017-18. The mean squares were found significantly different for all the characters under study, depicting the availability of variability among the study materials. The high magnitude of phenotypic coefficient of variance (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variance (GCV) for seed yield, primary branches per plant and number of umbels per plant depicted the presence of vast amount of variation for the character along with high heritability (68-97%) combined with higher genetic advances as percentage of means for seed yield. The highest intra-cluster distance was recorded in cluster VI (11.8) along with cluster VII (11.33) and cluster VIII (8.29) depicting large genetic variability among the genotypes of these three clusters. The highest inter-cluster distance was reported among cluster III and VIII (51.97) followed by cluster III and VII (40.07) and cluster IV and cluster VIII (34.77), suggesting wide range of diversity between genotypes of the clusters. Amongst the characters, seed yield contributed the highest towards genetic divergence (47.80%) followed by number of umbel per plant (25.65%), branches per plant (8.60%) and 1000 seed weight (6.64%)

Automatic Detection of Eye Cataracts and Disease Classification Using Hybrid Techniques

Medical image analysis is the most demanding technology now days. The proposed system performs automatic cataract from the digital eye image and retinal fundus images. The proposed system has developed a new technique with a set of algorithms. Currently, methods available for cataract detection are only based on certain features, but medical images may have heterogeneous feature set; the main motive behind this work is to develop less iterative, effective multi-feature based eye image analysis and cataract detection from the color images of eye and retinal fundus images. An algorithm is proposed for Cataract Screening based on the retinal features, veins, blood vessels, and artery. These features are used to analyze and classify the eye into specific class. To achieve this set of algorithms have proposed. The proposed system performs the pre-processing step initially, and then the feature selection from the preprocessed images is then initially classified using the Kernel Hyper Support Vector Machine (KHSVM). The results from the KHSVM, the effective features are applied into the modified genetic algorithm named as IIGA (Iterative Intensity Genetic Algorithm); this performs a new type of gene selection from the KHSVM features. Instead of selecting the random features, the proposed system gets the features from the KHSVM result. The proposed system achieves better results than the existing works. The proposed system is implemented in Matlab tool with several eye images. The experimented result shows the proposed system achieved better detection than the existing techniques

Novel framework for optimized digital forensic for mitigating complex image attacks

Digital Image Forensic is significantly becoming popular owing to the increasing usage of the images as a media of information propagation. However, owing to the presence of various image editing tools and softwares, there is also an increasing threats over image content security. Reviewing the existing approaches of identify the traces or artifacts states that there is a large scope of optimization to be implmentation to further enhance teh processing. Therfore, this paper presents a novel framework that performs cost effective optmization of digital forensic tehnqiue with an idea of accurately localizing teh area of tampering as well as offers a capability to mitigate the attacks of various form. The study outcome shows that propsoed system offers better outcome in contrast to existing system to a significant scale to prove that minor novelty in design attribute could induce better improvement with respect to accuracy as well as resilience toward all potential image threats

Understanding the nature of electronic effective mass in double-doped SrTiO3_{3}

We present an approach to tune the effective mass in an oxide semiconductor by a double doping mechanism. We demonstrate this in a model oxide system Sr$_{1-x}$La$_x$TiO$_{3-\delta}$, where we can tune the effective mass ranging from 6--20$\mathrm{m_e}$ as a function of filling or carrier concentration and the scattering mechanism, which are dependent on the chosen lanthanum and oxygen vacancy concentrations. The effective mass values were calculated from the Boltzmann transport equation using the measured transport properties of thin films of Sr$_{1-x}$La$_x$TiO$_{3-\delta}$. Our method, which shows that the effective mass decreases with carrier concentration, provides a means for understanding the nature of transport processes in oxides, which typically have large effective mass and low electron mobility, contrary to the tradional high mobility semiconductors.Comment: 5 pages with 4 figure

STUDIES ON ANTIMICROBIAL AND ANTICANCER ACTIVITY OF SOLANUM TRILOBATIUM

The present study is aimed to focus on antimicrobial  and anticancer activity plant extract Solanum trilobatum which was collected from Thirukovilur, Villupuram district. The cancer cell line HT- 29 obtained from King's Institute, Guindy Chennai. The plant extracts were prepared in  ethanolic extracts  to check the anti- microbial and anti-cancer  activity against bacterial pathogens (E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas, Klebsilla, Bacillus) and fungal pathogens (A. niger, A. flavus, Fusarium) by agar well diffusion method. The leaf of S. trilobatum were used for antimicrobial analysis, out of the best activity was observed E. coli with maximum zone of inhibition. On the other hand maximum antifungal activity was recorded with Aspergillus niger. The phytochemical analysis of S. trilobatum were performed such as alkaloids, flavonoids, sugars, glycosides, spannins, tannins, proteins, aminoacids and terpenoid were analyzed. Among the phytochemical test alkaloids showed the highest activity compared to other tests. Anti-cancer activity showed the least MIC value at concentration ranging from 2.7µg/ml to 60 µg/ml. A lowest MIC value (2.4 OD at conc. of 60 µg/ml). The results clearly evident that the  S. trilobatum extract are very useful improving survival and quality of life in patient suffering from advanced cancer.Key words: Anticancer; Antifungal; Phytochemical; S. trilobatum; AntifungalÂ

Turbulent Mixing in Clusters of Galaxies

We present a spherically-symmetric, steady-state model of galaxy clusters in which radiative cooling from the hot gas is balanced by heat transport through turbulent mixing. We assume that the gas is in hydrostatic equilibrium, and describe the turbulent heat diffusion by means of a mixing length prescription with a dimensionless parameter alpha_mix. Models with alpha_mix ~ 0.01-0.03 yield reasonably good fits to the observed density and temperature profiles of cooling core clusters. Making the strong simplification that alpha_mix is time-independent and that it is roughly the same in all clusters, the model reproduces remarkably well the observed scalings of X-ray luminosity, gas mass fraction and entropy with temperature. The break in the scaling relations at kT \~ 1-2 keV is explained by the break in the cooling function at around this temperature, and the entropy floor observed in galaxy groups is reproduced naturally.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

Critical thickness and orbital ordering in ultrathin La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 films

Detailed analysis of transport, magnetism and x-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements on ultrathin La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 films with thicknesses from 3 to 70 unit cells resulted in the identification of a lower critical thickness for a non-metallic, non-ferromagnetic layer at the interface with the SrTiO3 (001) substrate of only 3 unit cells (~12 Angstrom). Furthermore, linear dichroism measurements demonstrate the presence of a preferred (x2-y2) in-plane orbital ordering for all layer thicknesses without any orbital reconstruction at the interface. A crucial requirement for the accurate study of these ultrathin films is a controlled growth process, offering the coexistence of layer-by-layer growth and bulk-like magnetic/transport properties.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review