Applicability of Wireless Sensor Networks in Precision Agriculture: A Review

Wireless Personal Communications - Data security is currently become a serious concern in wireless communication system for both the users and providers. Without a secure medium, the data...     

High‐performance thermosets with tailored properties derived from methacrylated eugenol and epoxy‐based vinyl ester

A renewable chemical, eugenol, is methacrylated to produce methacrylated eugenol (ME) employing the Steglich esterification reaction without any solvent. The resulting ME is used as a low‐viscosity co‐monomer to replace styrene in a commercial epoxy‐based vinyl ester resin (VE). The volatility and viscosity of ME and styrene are compared. The effect of ME loading and temperature on the viscosity of the VE–ME resin is investigated. Moreover, the thermomechanical properties, curing extent and thermal stability of the fully cured VE–ME thermosets are systematically examined. The results indicate that ME is a monomer with low volatility and low viscosity, and therefore the incorporation of ME monomer in VE resins allows significant reduction of viscosity. Moreover, the viscosity of the VE–ME resin can be tailored by adjusting the ME loadings and processing temperature to meet commercial liquid molding technology requirements. The glass transition temperatures of VE–ME thermosets range from 139 to 199 °C. In addition, more than 95% of the monomer is incorporated and fixed in the crosslinked network structure of VE–ME thermosets. Overall, the developed ME monomer exhibits promising potential for replacing styrene as an effective low‐viscosity co‐monomer. The VE–ME resins show great advantages for use in polymer matrices for high‐performance fiber‐reinforced composites. This work is of great significance to the vinyl ester industry by providing detailed experimental support. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

Tuberculous duodenal obstruction--a case report

Proximal duodenal obstruction due to tuberculosis can masquarade as duodenal ulcer. Although commonest cause of duodenal obstruction is ulcer, other causes must be considered, particularly tuberculosis which is common in tropics.     

Protein-energy malnutrition and oxidative injury in growing rats

1. Weaning rats were fed ad libitum isocaloric diets containing 5% and 20% casein based proteins. 5% protein diet was protein deficient diet. Pair fed rats with the 5% protein group were maintained simultaneously on 20% protein diet but the amount restricted to the amount taken up by PEM group. 2. Glutathione, antioxidative enzymes, lipid peroxidation and histopathological studies in liver and only glutathione and antioxidative enzymes in blood were carried out. 3. Rats fed the 5% protein diet developed a severe protein energy malnutrition (PEM) whereas those on pair-fed diet developed mild to moderate PEM. 4. Glutathione related thiols superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase and glutathione-Stransferase with (1 Chloro 2,4-dinitro benzene (CDNB) substrate) were decreased in liver with concomitant increase of lipid peroxidation in severe PEM. In blood glutathione, glutathione peroxidase and catalase were decreased while superoxide dismutase was increased in severe PEM group. 5. Mild to moderate PEM (pair-fed group) also resulted in similar changes in liver except glutathione peroxidase, lipid peroxidation in liver and superoxide dismutase in blood. 6. Hepatic injury was detectable only in the severe PEM group. 7. Oxidative-stress and hepatic injury occurred in severe PEM and to a lesser degree in mild to moderate PEM.     

Pefloxacin in leprosy

Fluoroquinolones, a new class of compounds characterised by broad antimicrobial spectrum including mycobacteria together with limited toxicity, have recently been introduced in the chemotherapy of various human infectious diseases. Pefloxacin, one of the members of this class, was recently demonstrated to be bactericidal against M.leprae in the mouse foot-pad model and clinically beneficial in lepromatous leprosy patients. Clinical response to standard MDT with added pefloxacin in ten previously untreated (both PB and MB) was compared with that in ten similar patients on MDT alone in the present trial. The results of chemotherapy were quantified by a method of clinical scoring. This pilot study showed that addition of pefloxacin led to significant and rapid clinical improvement. There were no side effects attributable to pefloxacin.     

"Significance of serum gamma glutamyl transpeptidase in cholestatic jaundice"

In conclusion, our study showed that serum G.G.T rises in cholestasis, and the rise is significantly higher in extraphepatic cholestasis as compared to intrahepatic cholestasis. Serum G.G.T has not shown any superiority over alkaline phosphatase in the evaluation of cholestatic liver disease. However, two considerations must caution against the use of serum G.G.T. alone for evaluation of hepatobiliary disease. The first of these is the lack of specificity for hepatobiliary disease. Serum G.G.T. activity can be elevated in some non-hepatic disorders such as acute pancreatitis, congestive cardiac failure, myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus and alcoholism. Determination of serum G.G.T. in these patients is of no value. Second, the possibility that changes in serum G.G.T. activity results from drug administration in man.     

Comparison of surgically attached and non-attached repair of the rat Achilles tendon-bone interface. Cellular organization and type X collagen expression

The effects of surgical repair versus non-repair on cell morphology and type X collagen expression were investigated using a rat model of Achilles tendon avulsion. The animals were divided into four groups. In Group 1, tendon was reattached to the original attachment site by suturing through a drill hole in the calcaneus; in Group II, tendon was not reattached and a drill hole was not made; in Group III, tendon was not reattached but a drill hole was made; and the animals in Group IV were sham operated. In Group I (tendon reattached), at 2 weeks postoperatively, many hypertrophic chondrocytes appeared at the reattachment site adjacent to bone and type X collagen was detected immunologically both in the cells and in the extracellular matrix. After 4 weeks, the cells at the original site of attachment were arranged in rows along the newly formed tendon fibers and were stained with type X collagen antibody. By contrast, when tendon was not reattached (Groups II and III), a gap between the original attachment site and the tendon stump was observed through the entire postoperative period. At 8 weeks, the original attachment site was covered by fibrocartilaginous tissue and tendon became attached to the calcaneal fibrocartilage area, which is proximal to the original attachment site. Type X collagen was detected in the cells which were adjacent to bone. In Group IV (sham operation), there were no changes in histology or type X collagen distribution, either at the attachment site or in tendon and bone, compared with the non-operated control rats. These results suggest that surgical reattachment of tendon to the original site is important to help reorganize cells during the repair process. Type X collagen was identified immunohistochemically in the cells adjacent to bone in all the groups, suggesting that it may play a role in maintaining distinct areas of calcified and non-calcified fibrocartilage.     

Design of an Ultra-Compact and Highly-Sensitive Temperature Sensor Using Photonic Crystal Based Single Micro-Ring Resonator and Cascaded Micro-Ring Resonator

Silicon - In the present report, a photonic crystal based micro-ring resonator (MRR) structure is proposed which is very compact in size and has very fast response and is employed for temperature...     

Sequence,Chromatin and Evolution of Satellite DNA

Satellite DNA consists of abundant tandem repeats that play important roles in cellular processes, including chromosome segregation, genome organization and chromosome end protection. Most satellite DNA repeat units are either of nucleosomal length or 5–10 bp long and occupy centromeric, pericentromeric or telomeric regions. Due to high repetitiveness, satellite DNA sequences have largely been absent from genome assemblies. Although few conserved satellite-specific sequence motifs have been identified, DNA curvature, dyad symmetries and inverted repeats are features of various satellite DNAs in several organisms. Satellite DNA sequences are either embedded in highly compact gene-poor heterochromatin or specialized chromatin that is distinct from euchromatin. Nevertheless, some satellite DNAs are transcribed into non-coding RNAs that may play important roles in satellite DNA function. Intriguingly, satellite DNAs are among the most rapidly evolving genomic elements, such that a large fraction is species-specific in most organisms. Here we describe the different classes of satellite DNA sequences, their satellite-specific chromatin features, and how these features may contribute to satellite DNA biology and evolution. We also discuss how the evolution of functional satellite DNA classes may contribute to speciation in plants and animals.     

Experimental design in soap manufacturing for optimization of fuzzified process capability index

In manufacturing industries, the quality of a product depends on the combined effect of multiple input variables working singly or together and therefore attention has been given on process capability indices to shift from single to multivariate domain. In case of multivariable domain the capability to incorporate uncertainties at the time of decision making becomes necessary. Fuzzy system is introduced to take care of this requirement. In this article the process parameters of soap manufacturing industries have been analyzed. The process capability is determined using Fuzzy Inference System rule editor based on a set of justified if then statements as applicable for the process. The data has been collected in linguistic form to derive its process capability, using a set of justified rules and the effect of each factor has been determined using Design of Experiments (DoE) and analysis of variance technique (ANOVA) for improving the soap quality from perspective of its softness. This article ventures to propose a new methodology by integrating Fuzzy with DoE providing better result followed by DoE and Fuzzy Inference system in isolation.