Transvaginal power Doppler angiography of the fetal brain

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The stratum corneum of some of the scaly (parakeratotic) diseases was examined with light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with the purpose to reveal the importance of this layer in the diagnosis of some of the diseases associated with the formation of scales. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two biopsies of the skin surface were taken: one, obtained from 80 patients with various parakeratotic scaly diseases and from 25 control subjects, was processed for light microscopy; the other biopsy for SEM was taken from 10 control subjects and 25 patients. The diagnoses of these patients were: psoriasis (5 patients), erythrodermic psoriasis (2 subjects), parapsoriasis (5 patients), pityriasis rubra pilaris (5 subjects), pityriasis rosea (3 subjects), and seborrheic dermatitis (5 subjects). RESULTS: The light microscopic studies showed that normal corneocytes are of polygonal shape with their largest diameter measuring 42 microns; these cells lacked nuclei. All parakeratotic cells appeared bizarre in shape, smaller than normal, and the cells contained a nucleus. With SEM, normal cells appeared relatively regular in size and shape, trabeculated, and had a flat surface. Cells examined in all the diseases revealed various sizes, outlines, and trabeculae. Specific surface patterns (print) of diseased cells were: "fish-scale" in psoriasis; "marbled" in parapsoriasis, "rocky stone" in pityriasis rubra pilaris; "heart-shaped" in seborrheic dermatitis, and semicrystalloid in pityriasis rosea. CONCLUSIONS: Parakeratosis is characterized not only by the retention of the nucleus in keratinocytes, but is also characterized by a cell of smaller size. The specific print of a disease helps in the diagnosis. The print will change with different stages of a disease.     

An integrated intelligent computing model for the interpretation of EMG based neuromuscular diseases

Intelligent computing system (ICS) and knowledge-based system (KBS) have been widely used in the detection and interpretation of EMG (electromyography) based diseases. Heuristic-based detection methods of EMG parameters for a particular disease have also been reported in the literature but little effort has been made by researchers to combine rule-based reasoning (RBR) and case-based reasoning of KBS, and ANN (artificial neural nets) of ICS. Integrating the methods in KBS and ICS improves the computational and reasoning efficiency of the problem-solving strategy. We have developed an integrated model of CBR and RBR for generating cases, and ANN for matching cases for the interpretation and diagnosis of neuromuscular diseases. We have hierarchically structured the neuromuscular diseases in terms of their physio-pyscho (muscular, cognitive and psychological) parameters and EMG based parameters (amplitude, duration, phase etc.). Cumulative confidence factor is computed at different node from lowest to highest level of hierarchal structure in the process of diagnosis of the neuromuscular diseases. The diseases considered are Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Polymyostits, Endocrine myopathy, Metabolic myopathy, Neuropathy, Poliomyletis and Myasthenia gravis. The basic objective of this work is to develop an integrated model of RBR, CBR and ANN in which RBR is used to hierarchically correlate the sign and symptom of the disease and also to compute cumulative confidence factor (CCF) of the diseases. CBR is used for diagnosing the neuromuscular diseases and to find the relative importance of sign and symptoms of a diseases to other diseases and ANN is used for matching process in CBR.     

An analytic algorithm for the space–time fractional advection–dispersion equation

Fractional advection–dispersion equation (FADE) is a generalization of the classical ADE in which the first order time derivative and first and second order space derivatives are replaced by Caputo derivatives of orders 0<α?1, 0<β?1 and 1<γ?2, respectively. We use Caputo definition to avoid (i) mass balance error, (ii) hyper-singular improper integral, (iii) non-zero derivative of constant, and (iv) fractional derivative involved in the initial condition which is often ill-defined. We present an analytic algorithm to solve FADE based on homotopy analysis method (HAM) which has the advantage of controlling the region and rate of convergence of the solution series via the auxiliary parameter ? over the variational iteration method (VIM) and homotopy perturbation method (HPM). We find that the proposed method converges to the numerical/exact solution of the ADE as the fractional orders α, β, γ tend to their integral values. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the proposed algorithm. Example 5 describes the intermediate process between advection and dispersion via Caputo fractional derivative.     

33.7 MHz heavy-ion radio frequency quadrupole linac at VECC Kolkata

A 33.7 MHz heavy-ion radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) linear accelerator has been designed, built, and tested. It is a four-rod-type RFQ designed for acceleration of 1.38 keVu, qA> or =116 ions to about 29 keVu. Transmission efficiencies of about 85% and 80% have been measured for the unanalyzed and analyzed beams, respectively, of oxygen ((16)O(2+), (16)O(3+), (16)O(4+)), nitrogen ((14)N(3+), (14)N(4+)), and argon ((40)Ar(4+)). The system design and measurements along with results of beam acceleration test will be presented.     

Support for Implementation of Evolutionary Concurrent Systems

Concurrent programs that embed specifications of synchronizations in the body of their component are difficult to extend and modify. Small changes in a concurrent program, particularly changes in the interactions among components, may require re-implementation of a large number of components. Even specifications of components cannot be reused easily. This paper presents a concurrent program composition mechanism in which both specification and implementation of computations and interactions are completely separated. Separation of specifications and implementations facilitates extensions and modifications of programs by allowing one to separately change the implementations of computations and interactions. It also supports their reusability. The paper also describes the design and implementation of a concurrent object-oriented programming language based on this model, including a compiler for the language, and reports on the execution behavior of programs written in the language.     

Quantitative proteomics for identification of cancer biomarkers

Quantitative proteomics can be used for the identification of cancer biomarkers that could be used for early detection, serve as therapeutic targets, or monitor response to treatment. Several quantitative proteomics tools are currently available to study differential expression of proteins in samples ranging from cancer cell lines to tissues to body fluids. 2-DE, which was classically used for proteomic profiling, has been coupled to fluorescence labeling for differential proteomics. Isotope labeling methods such as stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC), isotope-coded affinity tagging (ICAT), isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ), and (18) O labeling have all been used in quantitative approaches for identification of cancer biomarkers. In addition, heavy isotope labeled peptides can be used to obtain absolute quantitative data. Most recently, label-free methods for quantitative proteomics, which have the potential of replacing isotope-labeling strategies, are becoming popular. Other emerging technologies such as protein microarrays have the potential for providing additional opportunities for biomarker identification. This review highlights commonly used methods for quantitative proteomic analysis and their advantages and limitations for cancer biomarker analysis.     

The Australian Incident Monitoring Study. Oesophageal intubation: an analysis of 2000 incident reports

There were 35 oesophageal intubations in the first 2000 incidents reported to the Australian Incident Monitoring Study (AIMS). These reports confirm existing impressions that misplacement of the endotracheal tube can occur in trained as well as untrained hands, and that auscultation is an unreliable test. On the other hand, the value of capnography is emphasised, with no false positives in the 16 cases in which the instrument was used. There was one false negative. Over the 4 years of the AIMS study, reports have declined in frequency. It is possible that the early detection of oesophageal intubation by capnography has altered its status to the extent that anaesthetists no longer regard it as a "critical" incident. It is highly recommended that the presence of the expected concentration of carbon dioxide in expired air be confirmed by capnography immediately after any endotracheal intubation.     

Creep fracture in Al-SiC metal-matrix composites

Creep fracture behaviour of pure aluminium-matrix composites with 10–30 vol% SiC particulates at 623 K is reported. A comparison of tensile and compression creep data shows the existence of a transition stress. Above this transition stress no steady state creep is observed in tension. This transition stress is related to a transition from intergranular to transgranular fracture. The origin of transition stress is perhaps associated with the diffusional relaxation of stress concentration at the matrix/particle interface by lattice diffusion. The intergranular creep fracture of composites appears to be similar to that of unreinforced aluminium and it is power-law creep controlled. The transgranular creep fracture occurs by void nucleation and growth. The nucleation strain for voids is quite small and hence the tertiary stage starts before the end of the primary stage. The ductile fracture models overestimate the strain to fracture and do not predict the observed stress dependence of strain to fracture.     

Inhibitory effect of parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) residue on growth of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes Mart Solms.) II. Relative effect of flower,leaf, stem,and root residue

The relative effect of residue of leaf, flower, stem, and root of parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) on growth of water hyacinth was studied. The inhibitory activity of the residue as shown by its effect on biomass and healthy leaf number (HLN) of treated plants was in the order: leaf and flower >stem >root. Total phenolic acids in the medium after 72 hr of suspending the plant part residue were maximum in flower followed by leaf, root, and stem, successively. The dry leaf powder (DLP) and dry flower powder (DFP) at and above 0.50% (w/v) and dry stem powder (DSP) at 1.00% (w/v) killed water hyacinth in about one month. Dry root powder (DRP) at the highest dose (1.25% w/v) reduced the growth of the treated plants drastically, but the plants recovered after about one month. The DSP at 0.50% (w/v) and DRP at 0.25–0.75% (w/v) supported growth of treated plants, probably due to lower levels of inhibitors, allowing utilization of constituents of the residue as nutrients. Using wheat seedlings as a reference material, it was observed that in aquaculture at different levels of parthenium plant parts residue, water hyacinth plants were much more sensitive to inhibitory activity. Thus, water hyacinth is suggested as a material for bioassay of inhibitory activity of the parthenium plant residue.     

Meshfree method for fluctuating hydrodynamics

In the current study a meshfree Lagrangian particle method for the Landau–Lifshitz Navier–Stokes (LLNS) equations is developed. The LLNS equations incorporate thermal fluctuation into macroscopic hydrodynamics by the addition of white noise fluxes whose magnitudes are set by a fluctuation–dissipation theorem. The study focuses on capturing the correct variance and correlations computed at equilibrium flows, which are compared with available theoretical values. Moreover, a numerical test for the random walk of standing shock wave has been considered for capturing the shock location.