DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF MACHINE-CONTROLLED SYSTEM FOR PUBLIC BICYCLE-SHARING IN URBAN AREAS

This paper presents a design of machine controlled intelligent system for public to share bicycles for short distance transportation in urban areas. It allows us to take bicycle from wherever we are and to park at our nearest place of destination. The design schemes used here are automated system for bicycle delivery unit (base station) and bicycle parking unit (substation) and automatic amount collection for the usage from user card (RFID tags) and central administration office (GPS) and solar powered substations (PV solar panels). Moreover, it offers auto-locking racks for bicycles, on-Board vehicle tracking, and battery with solar power management, data logging, and communication with substations and administration. The subscribers can register to this service by administrator of bicycle sharing system. In 2011, the Ministry of Urban Development (MOUD), Government of India, launched the National Public Bicycle Scheme (NPBS) to build capacity for the implementation and operation of cycle sharing systems across the country. This paper outlines the advanced requirements to successfully develop and deploy bicycle sharing system focusing on solar powered battery charging and vending by PV solar panels, rental collection interface, in and out management of bicycles, system equipped with RFID and GPS tracking mechanisms. So bicycle sharing systems has emerged as an innovative form of public transport to provide urban short-distance transportation services by government

A case of placental chorioangioma

Chorioangioma is a benign tumor of placenta, incidence being 1 in 100 cases. It is mostly diagnosed ultrasonically in the second trimester of pregnancy. Large chorioangiomas render a challenge to obstetricians due to the foeto maternal complications and adverse outcomes. Here by authors present a case report of large chorioangioma with no fetomaternal complications but just for awareness of the importance of early diagnosis and to look out for possible adverse effects on mother and foetus

Drug-tolerant persister cancer cells are vulnerable to GPX4 inhibition.

Acquired drug resistance prevents cancer therapies from achieving stable and complete responses. Emerging evidence implicates a key role for non-mutational drug resistance mechanisms underlying the survival of residual cancer 'persister' cells. The persister cell pool constitutes a reservoir from which drug-resistant tumours may emerge. Targeting persister cells therefore presents a therapeutic opportunity to impede tumour relapse. We previously found that cancer cells in a high mesenchymal therapy-resistant cell state are dependent on the lipid hydroperoxidase GPX4 for survival. Here we show that a similar therapy-resistant cell state underlies the behaviour of persister cells derived from a wide range of cancers and drug treatments. Consequently, we demonstrate that persister cells acquire a dependency on GPX4. Loss of GPX4 function results in selective persister cell ferroptotic death in vitro and prevents tumour relapse in mice. These findings suggest that targeting of GPX4 may represent a therapeutic strategy to prevent acquired drug resistance

Inflammatory effects of inhaled sulfur mustard in rat lung

Inhalation of sulfur mustard (SM), a bifunctional alkylating agent that causes severe lung damage, is a significant threat to both military and civilian populations. The mechanisms mediating its cytotoxic effects are unknown and were investigated in the present studies. Male rats Crl:CD(SD) were anesthetized, and then intratracheally intubated and exposed to 0.7–1.4 mg/kg SM by vapor inhalation. Animals were euthanized 6, 24, 48 h or 7 days post-exposure and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) and lung tissue collected. Exposure of rats to SM resulted in rapid pulmonary toxicity, including focal ulceration and detachment of the trachea and bronchial epithelia from underlying mucosa, thickening of alveolar septal walls and increased numbers of inflammatory cells in the tissue. There was also evidence of autophagy and apoptosis in the tissue. This was correlated with increased BAL protein content, a marker of injury to the alveolar epithelial lining. SM exposure also resulted in increased expression of markers of inflammation including cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and matrix metalloproteinase- 9 (MMP-9), each of which has been implicated in pulmonary toxicity. Whereas COX-2, TNFα and iNOS were mainly localized in alveolar regions, MMP-9 was prominent in bronchial epithelium. In contrast, expression of the anti-oxidant hemeoxygenase, and the anti-inflammatory collectin, surfactant protein-D, decreased in the lung after SM exposure. These data demonstrate that SM-induced oxidative stress and injury are associated with the generation of cytotoxic inflammatory proteins which may contribute to the pathogenic response to this vesicant

Fatty acid desaturase-2 (ahFAD2) mutant alleles in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) pre-breeding lines: an insight into the source, features, discourse, and selection of novel pre-breeding lines

High oleic peanuts and derived food products offer longer shelf life benefits to the food processing industry in addition to multiple health benefits to the consumers. The two mutant alleles, ahFAD2A and ahFAD2B control composition of oleic, linoleic and palmitic acid content in peanut. A total of 563 peanut pre-breeding lines were tested for the presence ahFAD2A and ahFAD2B mutant alleles using allele specific markers. The ahFAD2A mutant allele was present in 82 lines, while none of these lines had ahFAD2B mutant allele. Among botanical types, ahFAD2A mutant allele was more frequent in lines with Virginia growth habit than Spanish bunch although no correlation of ahFAD2A mutant allele with high oleic acid content and growth habit could be established. Oleic and linoleic acid content in 82 prebreeding lines ranged from 39.70 to 62.70% and 17.76 to 31.95%, respectively, with maximum oleic to linoleic acid ratio of 4. Oleic acid was found to be negatively correlated with linoleic and palmitic acid. Further, pre-breeding lines with ahFAD2A mutant allele, high oleic content and high oleic to linoleic ratio were investigated and novel lines were identified for resistance to late leaf spot, short duration, higher pod yield and other yield related traits. These novel pre-breeding lines can be used as a potential donor in peanut improvement programme and to diversify the primary gene pool including initiating further research on induction of fresh ahFAD2B mutant allele

Impact of blockchain technology adoption in farms of FPO members

BCT adoption remains to be a promising way to achieve food security and safety in many developing countries. This paper explores the impact of blockchain technology adoption on household farm income. Based on a simple random sampling method, a cross sectional survey was conducted in the year 2023 to collect data from 240 sample farmers including 120 BCT adopters and 120 non-adopters in Erode district of Tamil Nadu. The information regarding socio-economic profiles like age, gender, educational status, farming experience, farm size, extension agency contact, training programmes attended, access to technological information were collected from sample farmers through personal interviews. The present research used a treatment effect analysis with propensity score matching approach to assess the impact of blockchain technology adoption on household’s farm income. Results showed a significant increase in farm income as a result of blockchain technology adoption among sample farmers. PSM approach estimated that the blockchain technology adopters earned higher farm income of ₹25829.16 as compared to non-adopters. Hence the findings provide empirical evidence that blockchain technology adoption in agriculture can contribute to improve quality food production and enhance farm income

18F-FDG PET/CT Evaluation of Regional Cerebral Metabolic Activities in Childhood Onset Schizophrenia

Introduction: Functional neuro-imaging with FDG PET CT in schizophrenic patients have reported certain patterns of increased or decreased metabolism in specific areas of the brain. Frontal lobe is one of the cortical areas consistently associated with schizophrenia and the activity levels have been reported to vary with the symptomatology at presentation. Predominantly positive symptoms cause and underlying hyperfrontality and negative symptoms are associated with hypofrontality. This study aims to assess the imaging patterns in unmedicated pediatric patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and predominantly positive symptoms.Patients and methods: 48 pediatric patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (all unmedicated, 38 never medicated) and 10 healthy age-matched controls were evaluated with FDG PET CT. The patients met ICD-10 and DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia and all reported psychotic, “positive†symptoms when tested.Results: Children with schizophrenia and positive symptoms had a pattern of diffuse hyper-metabolism involving the bilateral frontal cortices and could be demonstrated on quantification by region to occipital ratio comparison . Associated statistically significant differences were also found when comparing ratios of occipital to thalamic, striatal and temporal cortex in these patients when compared to controls.Conclusion: Diffuse frontal hypermetabolism or hyperfrontality is observed in children with schizophrenia when there is a predominance of positive symptoms. There could be a possible disruption of cortico-striato-thalamic feedback loops causing hyperfrontality as seen in in experimentally induced models of psychosis

Differentiating Schizophrenia from Bipolar Illness on 18 F FDG PET CT Based on white Matter Metabolism; an under-Utilised Parameter

18F-FDG PET/CT positron emission tomography studies (FDG-PET) have shown similar cortico-limbic metabolic dysregulation in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, with hypoactive prefrontal cortex coupled with hyperactive anterior limbic areas. However, it is not clear whether white matter metabolism connecting these regions is differently affected in the two disorders. Forty eight patients with schizophrenia mean age ± S.D] 31.6 ± 7.8 and 56 patients with bipolar disorder [mean age±S.D] 46.2 ± 8.9 underwent an 18F-FDG PET/CT scan. Normalized datasets the two groups of patients were compared on a voxel-by-voxel basis using a two-sample t statistic test as implemented in SPM8, and adding age as covariate. Group differences were assessed applying a threshold of p<0.0005. White matter metabolic rates significantly differed between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, whereas no differences were shown for cortical activity. This is the first 18F-FDG PET/CT to our best knowledge, directly comparing subjects with schizophrenia to those with bipolar disorder. It reports decreased activity in the center of large fronto-temporal and cerebellar white matter tracts in patients with schizophrenia in respect to those with bipolar disorder. This feature may characterize and differentiate the regional brain metabolism of the two illnesses