A Brief Review on Fundamentals of Conductive Polymer (CPs)

Polymers are huge compounds made up of numerous monomers (repeatedsubunits). They have similar macro and micro properties, as well aselectrical transport qualities, semiconductive capabilities, and opticalfeatures. With the advent of conductive polyacetylene, conductivepolymers have gotten a lot of interest. These conductors have a wide rangeof electrical conductivity, which may be produced by doping, while beingmechanically flexible and having a high thermal stability. Polymers may becreated using a variety of methods, including chemical and electrochemicalpolymerization. With advancement in material stability and greaterproperty control, an increasing variety of new applications are now beinginvestigated

Comparative Study of OpenCV Inpainting Algorithms

Digital image processing has been a significant and important part in the realm of computing science since its inception. It entails the methods and techniques that are used to manipulate a digital image using a digital computer. It is a type of signal processing in which the input and output maybe image or features/characteristics associated with that image. In this age of advanced technology, digital image processing has its uses manifold, some major fields being image restoration, medical field, computer vision, color processing, pattern recognition and video processing. Image inpainting is one such important domain of image processing. It is a form of image restoration and conservation. This paper presents a comparative study of the various digital inpainting algorithms provided by Open CV (a popular image processing library) and also identifies the most effective inpainting algorithm on the basis of Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) and runtime metrics

Multileptonic signals of co-annihilating left-right supersymmetric dark matter

We perform a comprehensive dark matter analysis of left-right supersymmetric scenarios that includes constraints from dark matter direct and indirect detection experiments and that presents distinctive features from those available in minimal supersymmetry. We concentrate on dark matter candidates which, while satisfying all constraints, are different from those of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. We consider in our analysis all possible co-annihilation channels relevant for setups in which several states are light and nearly degenerate, and devise a set of representative benchmark points, requiring co-annihilations, which satisfy all restrictions. We then study their consequent LHC signals, which exhibit promising new multileptonic signatures involving W-R, that if observed, would provide a strong support for left-right supersymmetry.Peer reviewe

The prevalence, preventive measures and economic impact of pandemic COVID-19 in India : the initial phase

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is posing a serious threat to the mankind with its massive infection rate and potentially fatality. A total of 212 countries have been infected within the 112 days of fi rst report causing 2 314 621 confi rmed cases and 157 847 deaths worldwide. India, the country which is already battling with poverty, malnutrition and high population density is also at the second stage of coronavirus transmission. The situation is worsening and the attention has focused on the prevalence and preventive measures to be taken to protect 1.35 billion people of the largest democratic country of the world. In this review, a study has been designed to evaluate the prevalence, transmission, clinical symptoms, and preventive measures to control the community transmission of this fatal disease. The initial impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak on Indian economy has also been dealt with. This study reviews and summarizes the main points of the epidemic in India until the end of April 2020

New insight into bacterial social communication in natural host: Evidence for interplay of heterogeneous and unison quorum response.

Many microbes exhibit quorum sensing (QS) to cooperate, share and perform a social task in unison. Recent studies have shown the emergence of reversible phenotypic heterogeneity in the QS-responding pathogenic microbial population under laboratory conditions as a possible bet-hedging survival strategy. However, very little is known about the dynamics of QS-response and the nature of phenotypic heterogeneity in an actual host-pathogen interaction environment. Here, we investigated the dynamics of QS-response of a Gram-negative phytopathogen Xanthomonas pv. campestris (Xcc) inside its natural host cabbage, that communicate through a fatty acid signal molecule called DSF (diffusible signal factor) for coordination of several social traits including virulence functions. In this study, we engineered a novel DSF responsive whole-cell QS dual-bioreporter to measure the DSF mediated QS-response in Xcc at the single cell level inside its natural host plant in vivo. Employing the dual-bioreporter strain of Xcc, we show that QS non-responsive cells coexist with responsive cells in microcolonies at the early stage of the disease; whereas in the late stages, the QS-response is more homogeneous as the QS non-responders exhibit reduced fitness and are out competed by the wild-type. Furthermore, using the wild-type Xcc and its QS mutants in single and mixed infection studies, we show that QS mutants get benefit to some extend at the early stage of disease and contribute to localized colonization. However, the QS-responding cells contribute to spread along xylem vessel. These results contrast with the earlier studies describing that expected cross-induction and cooperative sharing at high cell density in vivo may lead to synchronize QS-response. Our findings suggest that the transition from heterogeneity to homogeneity in QS-response within a bacterial population contributes to its overall virulence efficiency to cause disease in the host plant under natural environment

rpfF Mutants of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae are deficient for virulence and growth under low iron conditions

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae causes bacterial leaf blight, a serious disease of rice. In the related bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris, the rpfF gene is involved in production of a diffusible extracellular factor (DSF) that positively regulates synthesis of virulence-associated functions like extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) and extracellular enzymes. Transposon insertions in the rpfF homolog of X. oryzae pv. oryzae are deficient for virulence and production of a DSF but are proficient for EPS and extracellular enzyme production. The rpfF X. oryzae pv. oryzae mutants exhibit an unusual tetracycline susceptibility phenotype in which exogenous iron supplementation is required for phenotypic expression of a tetracycline resistance determinant that is encoded on an introduced plasmid. The rpfF X. oryzae pv. oryzae mutants also overproduce one or more siderophores and exhibit a growth deficiency under low iron conditions as well as in the presence of reducing agents that are expected to promote the conversion of Fe<SUP>+3</SUP> to Fe<SUP>+2</SUP>. Exogenous iron supplementation promotes migration of rpfF X. oryzae pv. oryzae mutants in rice leaves. The results suggest that rpfF may be involved in controlling an iron-uptake system of X. oryzae pv. oryzae and that an inability to cope with the conditions of low iron availability in the host may be the reason for the virulence deficiency of the rpfF X. oryzae pv. oryzae mutants

Virulence deficiency caused by a transposon insertion in the purH gene of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae causes bacterial leaf blight, a serious disease of rice. We have identified a Tn5-induced virulence-deficient mutant (BXO1704) of X. oryzae pv. oryzae. The BXO1704 mutant exhibited growth deficiency in minimal medium but was proficient in inducing a hypersensitive response in a non-host tomato plant. Sequence analysis of the chromosomal DNA flanking the Tn5 insertion indicated that the Tn5 insertion is in the purH gene, which is highly homologous to purH genes of other closely related plant pathogenic bacteria Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri and Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris. Purine supplementation reversed the growth deficiency of BXO1704 in minimal medium. These results suggest that the virulence deficiency of BXO1704 may be due to the inability to use sufficient purine in the host

EFFECT OF DEXMEDETOMIDINE AND ESMOLOL IN ATTENUATING THE HAEMODYNAMIC RESPONSES DURING LARYNGOSCOPY AND ENDOTRACHEAL INTUBATION IN ELECTIVE UPPER ABDOMINAL SURGERIES

BACKGROUND Laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation produces distinct but transient increase in cardiac workload. In this study, a comparison is made between dexmedetomidine, esmolol and control in their effect in attenuation of pressure response during laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation. MATERIALS AND METHODS With written consent, we studied hundred and twenty-five (125) adult patients of American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I and II, aged between 30 to 60 years, of either sex, undergoing elective upper abdominal surgeries. The patients were randomly allocated into three groups: 1) 42 patients in group (D) received Dexmedetomidine (1 µg/kg), 2) 42 patients in group (C) received normal saline 15 ml, and 3) 41 patients in group (E) received Esmolol (2 mg/kg). All patients received the drugs intravenously over 10 minutes and 3 min before induction of general anaesthesia. Premedication, induction and intubation were similar. Heart rate (HR), systemic arterial pressures were recorded at baseline, after study drug infusion, after induction, immediately and 3, 5, 7, 10 min after intubation. Study Design- Prospective, randomized, double blind, controlled study. Statistical Analysis- Analysis of variance and t-test as appropriate. RESULTS The heart rate, systolic arterial pressures and rate-pressure product immediately after intubation and thereafter were significantly lower in Group D (P<0.001) when compared to Group E and Group C. Group E had the same post-intubation parameters reliably (P<0.001) lower than Group C. CONCLUSION Dexmedetomidine and esmolol were both effective in attenuating the haemodynamic response to intubation, but dexmedetomidine was more effective than esmolol in lowering the haemodynamic response