Sterile keratitis after corneal collagen crosslinking in a child

Corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL) is a non invasive technique used in halting the progression of keratoconus. Complications with this modality are rare. We report a case of an 8-year-old child who developed sterile infiltrates in the immediate postoperative period after uneventful corneal collagen crosslinking for keratoconus. The infiltrates resolved with topical steroid therapy. There was also present coexisting vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) which was controlled with topical 2% cyclosporine A eye drops prior to crosslinking treatment. This case highlights importance of controlling VKC prior to CXL in keratoconus as it adds to the risk of developing post operative sterile keratitis.     

Antimicrobial and SEM Studies of Sophorolipids Synthesized Using Lauryl Alcohol

In recent years, researchers have developed biosurfactants for industrial, pharmaceutical and medical applications revealing the promising biological activities of these biomolecules. One of the best studied microbial surfactants are glycolipids, especially sophorolipids (SLs) produced by selected non-pathogenic yeast species of Candida. They are biodegradable, non-toxic and are environmentally friendly. Sophorolipid production was carried out using glucose as the hydrophilic source and lauryl alcohol C_12–14, as the hydrophobic source using Candida bombicola ATCC 22214. Primary characterization of the SL obtained using lauryl alcohol (SLLA) was done by FTIR which depicted the presence of alkyl sophorosides/SLs. Antimicrobial activity testing revealed that SLLA showed complete inhibition against gram negative bacteria, Escherichia coli (ATCC 8739) Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 9027) at 30 and 1 μg/ml at a contact time of 2 and 4 h respectively. Whereas for gram positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6358), Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6633), complete inhibition was observed at 6 and 1 μg/ml respectively at a contact time of 4 h. The formed SLLA showed noteworthy inhibition against the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans (ATCC 2091) at 50 μg/ml with a contact time of 4 h. These values are remarkably low compared to reported values of oleic acid SLs and linolenic acid SLs which were studied for antimicrobial properties. Scanning electron microscopy analysis of the treated cells revealed the changes in morphology and topography of the microorganisms.     

Aerosol characteristics over Delhi national capital region: a satellite view

Multi-sensor aerosol data sets are analysed to examine the aerosol characteristics over the Delhi national capital region. Both the Multiple-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) capture the seasonal cycle of aerosol optical depth (AOD) as observed by ground-based measurements. However, AOD from MISR shows a low bias relative to AOD from MODIS, which increases linearly at high AOD conditions. A large difference (by >25 W m^–2 per unit AOD) in the top-of-atmosphere direct radiative forcing efficiency derived from MODIS and MISR-retrieved AOD is observed during the winter and pre-monsoon seasons relative to the other seasons. The ubiquitous presence of dust (as indicated by non-spherical particle fraction to AOD and linear depolarization ratio values) is observed throughout the year. The aerosol layer is mostly confined to within 2 km of surface in the winter and post-monsoon seasons, while it expands beyond 6 km in the pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons. Columnar AOD is found to be highly sensitive to aerosol vertical distribution. The applicability of multi-sensor data sets and climatic implications are discussed.     

Removal of Cd (II) and Pb (II) from aqueous environment using Moringa Oleifera seeds as biosorbent: A low cost and ecofriendly technique for water purification

Ever-growing list of chemical contaminants released into the environment through excessive industrialization on a large scale includes numerous chemical pollutants more prominently heavy metals. The discharge of heavy metals in aqueous system and their removal have been a challenging task for environmentalists for last one decade. Keeping these views in mind, the present study highlights the efficacy of shelled Moringa oleifera seeds (SMOS) in decontaminating Cd (II) and Pb (II) ions from aqueous environment both present as single metal and as binary metal solution. The extent of adsorption capacity for Cd (II) and Pb (II) on Moringa oleifera seeds for binary metal ions [76.59% and 81.10%] was found to be low as compared to single metal ions [85.10% and 96.10%]. Morphological changes observed in Scanning Electron Micrographs of native and treated SMOS indicates the existence of biosorption phenomenon. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry of the exhausted seed biomass highlights amino acids-metal interaction responsible for sorption phenomenon. The sorption capacity of regenerated biomass remained almost constant after three cycle of sorption suggesting that the lifetime cycle was sufficient for continuous application.     

Calculation of Channel Capacity Considering the Effect of Different Seasons for Higher Altitude Platform System

This paper presents effect of the weather impairments on a high altitude platform (HAP) broadband wireless communication system. It is shown that attenuation due to oxygen, water vapor, fog, cloud, and rain has significant effect on a radio link which is operating in a millimeter frequency range. Channel capacity is calculated for different seasons using Shannon’s channel capacity theorem. The location of HAP is taken to be Delhi (India). Further, it is considered that a user and the HAP platform are stationary.     

Hierarchical Delay Test Generation

Delay testing is used to detect timing errors in a digital circuit.In this paper, we report a tool called MODET forautomatic test generation for path delay faults in modular combinational circuits. Our technique usesprecomputed robust delay tests for individual modules to computerobust delay tests for the module-level circuit. We present alongest path theorem at the module level ofabstraction which specifies the requirements for path selectionduring delay testing. Based on this theorem, we propose a pathselection procedure in module-level circuits and report efficientalgorithms for delay test generation. MODET hasbeen tested against a number of hierarchical circuits with impressivespeedups in relation to gate-level test generation.     

Multimodal image/video fusion rule using generalized pixel significance based on statistical properties of the neighborhood

Image fusion has been receiving increasing attention in the research community with the aim of investigating general formal solutions to a wide spectrum of applications such as multifocus, multiexposure, multispectral ( $IR$ -visible) and multimodal medical (CT and MRI) image and video fusion. While there exist many fusion techniques for each of these applications, it is difficult to formulate a common fusion technique that works equally well for all these applications. This is mainly because of the different characteristics of the images involved in various applications and the correspondingly different requirements on the fused image. In this work, we propose a common generalized fusion framework for all these classes, based on the statistical properties of local neighborhood of a pixel. As the eigenvalue of the unbiased estimate of the covariance matrix of an image block depends on the strength of edges in that block, we propose to employ it to compute a quantity we call as the significance of a pixel. This generalized pixel significance in turn can be used as a measure of the useful information content in that block, and hence can be used in the fusion process. Several data sets were fused to compare the results with various recently published methods. The analysis shows that for all the image types into consideration, the proposed methods improve the quality of the fused image, both visually and quantitatively, by preserving all the relevant information.     

Characteristics of holding, patterns of play, and social behaviors between parents and infants in New Delhi, India.

Characteristics of holding, play, and social behaviors between 54 mothers and fathers and their 1-year-old infants were observed within the context of their extended families in New Delhi, India. Mothers picked up and held infants more than did fathers, and were more likely to feed and comfort them and to invest more time feeding and displaying affection to them than were fathers. When parents held infants they were more likely to display affection than to feed, comfort, or play with them. Fathers engaged in more rough play than did mothers, and mothers engaged in more peek-a-boo than did fathers. Mothers and fathers treated boys and girls quite similarly. Infants smiled at, vocalized to, and followed mothers more than they did fathers. Parents were generally preferred over relatives as social partners. The data point to the cultural specificity of certain parent–child activities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)