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Video compression is necessary to recreate a video without sacrificing quality. Nowadays, researchers are focusing on global optimization approaches to determine the optical flow of the neighboring pixels in video processing. In this work, a novel improved diamond search-hybrid teaching-learning based optimization (IDS-HTLBO) methodology has been proposed to compress the videos and increase the video quality. This method uses a diamond search pattern with a secure number of search points for per frame of the video. The hybridization of DS algorithm and TLBO algorithm are applied in this methodology to reduce computational complexity. Moreover, this method reduces the computational unpredictability of block matching. The quality of the image was validated with 3D reconstruction by the structured light approaches. The experimental result shows that the proposed IDS-HTLBO algorithm achieves a maximum average value of 53.17 dB, 0.44 and 11.57 in terms of peak-to-signal-noise ratio, mean squared error, and compression ratio respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnesium alloys are widely used to lightweight the components in the automobile, aerospace, and electronics industries because of their low density and high specific strength. However, factors like low ductility, low mechanical strength, and high corrosion rate restrict the extensive use of the material. To utilise the alloy with improved mechanical and corrosion properties, friction stir processing followed by heat treatment was performed. The study explored the effect of ageing temperature and ageing time on the microstructure, mechanical and corrosion properties of friction stir processed AZ31 alloy. The results indicate that friction stir processing at TRS of 1200 rpm and TTS of 60 mm/min, followed by heat treatment augments the corrosion resistance of AZ31 alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classification of genuine and spoofed utterance is the basis for most of the countermeasure detecting spoof attacks on automatic speaker verification system. The choice of a good discriminating feature and a complementing classifier adds to the robustness of the countermeasure. Cepstral coefficients of the linear sub-band energy analysis have proved its worth in countering unknown attacks as witnessed by the literature. The intention behind the proposed work is to assess the behaviour of a spoof detection countermeasure using linear frequency cepstral coefficients with both generative and discriminative classifiers. The same are considered as baseline systems for further analysis. Parallelly, the paper proposes modifications to the traditional weighting function used in the retrieval of energy sub-bands on linear scale in order to leverage its full potential in spoof detection. The weighting function used is Gaussian, and hence, the modified feature is referred as GaussFCC. The aforementioned analysis is carried out on non-pre-emphasised utterances. The classifiers used are Gaussian mixture model (generative) and bidirectional long short-term memory (discriminative) classifiers. The empirical results show that the generative classifier has performed significantly in the detection of spoof attacks under logical access condition and discriminative classifier has shown drastic improvement in spoof detection under physical access condition over the generative model. Tandem detection cost function for logical access scenario (LA) using GMM classifier is 0.000 for development data and 0.113 for evaluation data, and in physical access scenario using BiLSTM classifier, it is 0.030 for development data and 0.044 for evaluation data. A detailed comparative analysis of the performance of the countermeasure is carried out based on different types of attacks, features, classifiers and utterances from female and male speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Choosing the correct Endotracheal tube (ETT) size is important in paediatric patients because an inappropriately large and small sized tube has its own disadvantages and chances of re-intubation with different size tube is high. The currently available modalities do not reflect the actual tracheal diameter for selection of endotracheal tube. Ultrasonography (USG) guided evaluation of transverse diameter at subglottic region may be helpful to estimate the proper size of ETT. We tested the hypothesis that Ultrasound guided subglottic diameter better predicts optimal ETT size than existing methods. Aims: To predict the appropriate size of ETT in pediatric patients to avoid multiple attempts of intubation and airway edema using simple noninvasive USG-guided methods. Settings and Design: Design: Prospective study. Settings: Tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: Institutional ethical committee clearance no. BMCRI/PS/138/2020-21 was taken. Laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation were done in 27 pediatric patients of age 2-15 years using a predetermined-sized ETT, estimated by ultrasonography. ETT size was considered optimal when the cuff leak test was negative. If there was resistance to ETT passage into the trachea, the tube was exchanged with one that was 0.5 mm smaller. If the cuff leak test was positive, then the ETT was exchanged for one with the 0.5-mm larger tube. The comparison was done between the size of ETT calculated by USG-guided subglottic diameter, age, height-related formulas, and clinical methods to look for accuracy of prediction for proper ETT size after cuff leak test. Statistical Analysis: The data collected were entered into Microsoft Excel and analyzed using SPSS version 22. IBM Corp. Released 2013. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp. Appropriate parametric and nonparametric tests were applied wherever necessary. Categorical data: Represented in the form of frequencies and proportions. Continuous data: Represented as mean and standard deviation. Paired sample test: Test to identify the mean difference between two quantitative variables. Kappa statistics: To measure the level of agreement. Results: A total of 27 children of age between 2 and 15 years were selected, out of which 15 were male and 12 were female. The accuracy of predicting appropriate ETT size is greater in ultrasound-guided subglottic diameter when compared to conventional clinical assessment and age- and height-related formula and almost the same accuracy as the clinical method. Conclusion: Ultrasound-guided subglottic diameter is an easy, effective, and noninvasive way of predicting accurate ETT size in the pediatric population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamics of DTQW can be accelerated by adjusting the evolution parameter over time (AQW). This paper shows how accelerated DTQW dynamics can be used to control and enhance system entanglement. Destruction of the coin characteristics in space and time can cause spatial and temporal disorder. Disordered DTQW can simulate Anderson localization, weak localization, and analyse localised dynamics. By accelerating the parameter in a disordered DTQW system, the disordered system can be de-localised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transmitting an image is an important and challenging task with higher security. The process of secure data transmission with scrambling and jumbling is known as cryptanalysis. This can be used inmany applications for confidentiality such as military, medical, satellite and web etc. Here, we introduced a new and novel cryptanalysis scheme with improved security using logical scrambling and histogram matching. The proposed algorithm can be easily adapted for real time application due to its ease of access and less storage capacity. Experimental analysis has been done on various test images such as medical, satellite and few of real images, also compared the original and decrypted images with histogram matching and subtraction approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many software-related failures or faults were caused as the consequence of not detecting it early and prevailing constraints of time and supplies available during any software examination. Having identified the challenges in the regression software testing of any software, many have started moving their attention towards the test cases or else validation suites prioritization. In this work, we have taken the Firefox bugs Report as the input Dataset comprising 12,486 test cases in it. Dealing with these kind of greater number test cases might consume our times and resources to the core for which the work is proposed. The dataset will be subjected to pre-processing operation to remove the unwanted contents in the bug reports like the assertions in some cases. Necessary features are then selected by using the algorithm called PCA, and attributes for clustering and prioritization will be determined by using the Dimensionality reduction. After the feature selection process, we make use of the agglomerative K–means clustering algorithm which helps to form clustered groups. After clustering process, we apply the ranking algorithm and prioritized the test cases in the clusters by using it. Finally, the performance of this work was analyzed and cross-verified by analyzing the priority ranking for clusters, sum of the distinct faults detected based on the number of test cases, adjacency matrix between test cases and fault detection rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic speaker verification (ASV) system is a voice-based biometric authentication system susceptible to attacks from spoofed/fake utterances generated using speech synthesis, voice conversion and record–replay to gain fraudulent access through the system. Development of a generalized countermeasure to detect all such attacks is a major concern to the research community today. This paper presents a new feature named filter-based cepstral coefficient (FBCC) used in the front-end processing of the countermeasure. FBCC is cepstral coefficients of discrete cosine transformed log compressed energy variations of presented utterances. The energy variation patterns (EVPs) are captured by applying statistical filters to the power spectral density of utterance presented to the ASV system. Cepstral coefficients retrieved from EVP tend to capture artefacts that well discriminates spoofed from bonafide utterances. The robustness of FBCC in projecting the traces of spoof attack in the utterances is evident through the empirical results obtained when tested on ASVspoof2019 corpus with the conventional Gaussian mixture model classifier. The performance of the countermeasure using FBCC is consistently good throughout all the presented attacks, thus achieving generalization. This FBCC-based countermeasure performed equally good under both logical access (LA) and physical access (PA) conditions. The best performance of FBCC-based countermeasure, when tested with different filters, using t-DCF (tandem detection cost function) metric is 0.00 and 0.16 for development and evaluation data, respectively, under LA condition and is 0.18 and 0.25 for development and evaluation data, respectively, under PA condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: Medication errors (MEs) can prolong hospital stay and are a cause of morbidity and mortality. Studies evaluating MEs and its determinants in Indian neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) are limited. Therefore, this study was done to assess the prevalence, characteristics, determinants, and outcomes of MEs in an Indian NICU setting. METHODOLOGY: A prospective observational study was conducted over a 1-year period (January–December 2016) among neonates receiving medications in NICU. Systematic random sampling was done, and data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire after obtaining informed consent from the mother. An ME self-reporting system was also established. Data were analyzed using Chi-squared test and Student's t-test. Binary logistic regression was used to analyze the determinants of MEs. RESULTS: Among 269 babies included in the study, 57% (n = 154) were male babies with mean (standard deviation [SD]) birth weight of 2.59 kg (0.701). About 79% (n = 213/269) of the neonates were appropriate for gestational age. The mean (SD) duration of stay in NICU was 7.58 (5.07) days, and 67% of the babies had polypharmacy (use of ≥5 medications). The prevalence of MEs was 22% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 16.96%, 26.84%, n = 108) of all babies, of which only 2% (n = 2) were life threatening. Seventy-seven percent (n = 83) of these errors occurred during administration/preparation and 18% (n = 19) while prescribing. The significant determinants of MEs (adjusted odds ratio [95% CI]) include polypharmacy (4.126 [1.917–8.880]), duration of stay >7 days (1.335 [1.198–1.488]), and babies referred from outside (2.592 [1.217–5.521]). CONCLUSIONS: MEs were common in NICU setting. The occurrence of life-threatening MEs was minimal. Longer duration of hospital stay, polypharmacy, and babies born outside were significantly associated with occurrence of MEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Time delay estimated by EMD ML in low SNR and reverberant underwater environment. • In EMD ML method, estimation of impulse response function is been avoided. • Among TDE methods EMD ML is suitable in low signal strength, low frequency source. Abstract In recent times, time delay estimation (TDE) has received significant practical importance in sonar, radar, GPS, and various other fields. In a passive sonar system, estimation of time delay for low frequency and low signal to noise (SNR) acoustic source is a difficult task. If the source and receivers are kept inside the reverberation environment, time delay estimation becomes more difficult because of sound source echo's. This research work proposes a new TDE approach named empirical mode decomposition maximum likelihood time delay estimation (EMD ML TDE) method, for the low-frequency and low SNR underwater machinery acoustic signal in a reverberant environment. EMD ML TDE method is based on maximum likelihood (ML) method, and it is using empirical mode decomposition (EMD) denoising technique to estimate acoustic sound signal and noise from the noisy reverberant signal. The experimental results are provided that this new approach is better to estimate time delay in reverberant environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ideal dose of butorphanol for brachial plexus block is not well known. Aims: This study was carried out to evaluate 1 mg and 2 mg of butorphanol added to 0.375% levobupivacaine, with regard to the duration of analgesia. Our study also sought to assess the onset and duration of sensorimotor blockade, hemodynamic effects, sedation, and adverse effects. Settings and Design: This study was a prospective, randomized, double-blinded, and comparative study. Methods: Eighty adult patients of either sex undergoing upper limb surgeries under supraclavicular brachial plexus block were randomly allocated into two groups. Group LB1 received 29 ml of 0.375% levobupivacaine plus 1 mg of butorphanol diluted in 1 ml of normal saline. Group LB2 received 29 ml of 0.375% levobupivacaine plus 2 mg of butorphanol diluted in 1 ml of normal saline. The onset and duration of sensorimotor blockade, level of sedation, duration of analgesia, and adverse effects were assessed. Statistical Analysis: The data were analyzed with Student's t-test and Chi-square test. Results: The onset of sensory (P = 0.032) and motor block (P = 0.026) was earlier in Group LB2 than in Group LB1. The duration of analgesia was significantly prolonged in Group LB2 (643.55 ± 131.6 vs. 511.73 ± 128.6 min; P = 0.001). The incidence of sedation was observed in more number of patients in Group LB2 (P = 0.01). Furthermore, the incidence of nausea, vomiting, and pruritus were observed in more number of patients in Group LB2 (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Higher dose of butorphanol in brachial plexus block hastens the onset and prolongs the duration of sensorimotor blockade and analgesia but is associated with a higher incidence of sedation which requires intense monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intraperitoneal local anesthetic is an effective analgesic approach following laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Aims: The aim of the present study was to compare the antinociceptive effects of intraperitoneal ropivacaine plus fentanyl with ropivacaine plus dexmedetomidine in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Settings and Designs: This was randomized, prospective, double-blinded, observational clinical study. Methods: A total of 80 patients, undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia were randomly assigned to one of the two equal groups to receive either of the following: Group RF (n = 40) were given 30 mL of 0.2% ropivacaine combined with 1 μg/kg fentanyl (diluted in 2 mL normal saline) and Group RD (n = 40) were given 30 mL of 0.2% ropivacaine combined with 1 μg/kg dexmedetomidine (diluted in 2 mL normal saline) through trocars. The quality of analgesia was assessed using visual analog scale score (VAS). Time to the first request of analgesia, the total dose of analgesic in the first 24 h and adverse effects were noted. Statistical Analysis: The data were analyzed with the Students' t-test and Chi-square test. Results: VAS score at different time intervals, overall VAS in 24 h was significantly lower (1.68 ± 0.46 vs. 4.47 ± 0.94), time to first request of analgesia (min) was longest (122.7 ± 24.5 vs. 89.3 ± 13.2) and total analgesic consumption (mg) was lowest (95.3 ± 15.6 vs. 135.7 ± 75.1) in RD group than in RF group. Conclusion: The antinociceptive effect of the intraperitoneal instillation of ropivacaine in combination with dexmedetomidine is superior to ropivacaine combined with fentanyl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underwater object localization is important in defense, underwater biological and environmental applications. Localization using a passive sonar system is a challenging task. It is more challenging when the source and receivers are in the reverberant environment. Time delay estimation (TDE)-based localization is a well-known technique to localize source for last few decades. In this work, empirical mode decomposition maximum likelihood (EMD ML TDE) method is used to estimate the time delay in a reverberant environment. The sound source location is estimated by intersecting spherical surfaces from the time delay. The experimental results prove that EMD ML time delay estimation method is effective to localize a sound source in a reverberant environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ocimum sanctum (OSE) has been used in the Indian system of traditional medicine (Ayurveda) for the treatment and prevention of various diseases. However, the contradictory reports regarding the reproductive safety of OSE prompted us to re-verify its effect on the reproductive system by following internationally accepted Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development guideline 415. Objective: To study the effect of aqueous/methanolic extract of OSE (OciBest) on the male and female reproductive performance of Wistar rats. Materials and Methods: Rats were orally gavaged with OciBest at dose levels of 0, 250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg. Males were administered with OciBest for 12 weeks before and during the mating period. On the other hand, females received OciBest for 2 weeks before mating until the end of the lactation period. Results: OciBest at 1000 mg/kg did not induce any adverse effects on the reproductive performance of male and female rats. All the treated parent animals survived until the end of the study period with no major signs of clinical toxicity. The body weights, food consumption, male and female fertility indices, organ weights, as well as gross pathological and histopathology observations in parent animals, did not reveal any treatment-related adverse effects. Moreover, in comparison to the control groups, OciBest did not induce any treatment-related adverse effects to the offsprings. Conclusion: Thus, no-observed adverse effect level was found up to 1000 mg/kg dose, suggesting the safety of OciBest for reproductive system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted to evaluate the vanadium-induced testicular toxicity and its effect on sperm parameters, sperm nuclear DNA damage and histological alterations in Sprague Dawley rats and to assess the protective effect of G-hesperidin against this damage. Treatment of rats with vanadium at a dose of 1 mg kg bw−1 for 90 days resulted in significant reduction in serum testosterone levels, sperm count and motility. Further, a parallel increase in abnormal sperm morphology and adverse histopathological changes in testis was also associated with vanadium administration when compared to normal control. Moreover, sperm chromatin dispersion assay revealed that vanadium induces sperm nuclear DNA fragmentation. A marked increase in testicular malondialdehyde levels and decreased activity of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and catalase indicates vanadium-induced oxidative stress. Co-administration of G-hesperidin at a dose of 25 and 50 mg kg bw−1 significantly attenuated the sperm parameters and histological changes by restoring the antioxidant levels in rat testis. These results suggested that vanadium exposure caused reduced bioavailability of androgens to the tissue and increased free radical formation, thereby causing structural and functional changes in spermatozoa. G-hesperidin exhibited antioxidant effect by protecting the rat testis against vanadium-induced oxidative damage, further ensures antioxidant potential of bioflavonoids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thin films of NiO have been prepared using potentiostatic electrodeposition technique from an aqueous electrolytic bath containing NiSO4. Deposited films have been characterized using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive analysis by x-rays. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the prepared films possess polycrystalline nature with face centered cubic structure. Surface morphology and film composition showed that films with better stoichiometry and smooth surface are obtained at optimized growth condition. Optical absorption analysis showed that the prepared films possess direct band gap value around 3.46 eV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thin films of NiS have been deposited on indium doped tin oxide coated conducting glass substrates using electrodeposition technique. Structural studies revealed that the deposited films exhibit hexagonal structure with preferential orientation along (002) plane. Structural parameters such as crystallite size, strain and dislocation density are calculated for films with different thickness values obtained at various deposition time. The film composition and surface morphology have been analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive analysis by X-rays. Optical absorption analysis showed that the deposited films possess band gap value around 0.7 eV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copper Selenide thin films have been prepared on indium doped tin oxide coated conducting glass substrates from an aqueous electrolytic bath consists of CuSO4 and SeO2 using potentiostatic electrodeposition technique. Deposition mechanism has been analyzed using cyclic voltammetry. X-ray diffraction pattern showed that the prepared films possess polycrystalline nature with hexagonal structure. Film composition and surface morphology showed that films with smooth surface and better stoichiometry are obtained under optimized condition. Band gap value of the deposited films is determined using optical absorption measurements. Variation of film thickness with time and its dependency on structural, morphological, compositional and optical properties are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software testing is highly significant during the software development lifecycle for the earlier detection of errors and bugs. Test suite optimization is a selection of the smallest subset of the test cases. This enables quick recovery of the faults in the software product within a minimum time. Selection and prioritization of the test cases are the main approaches to solve the issues in the test case optimization. Various selection and prioritization techniques are developed in the recent days. However, the existing techniques require more cost and time consumption. Also, the increase in the number of objectives reduces the performance of the existing techniques. This paper proposes a multi-objective based test case selection and prioritization for distributed cloud environment. The Resemblance-Based Cluster Head (RBCH) algorithm is proposed to select the Cluster Head (CH) based on the overall similarity between the test cases. The Distance-Based Transposition (DBT) is proposed to prioritize the optimal test case clusters in the distributed environment. This proposed approach efficiently minimizes the time consumption for the testing process by reducing the number of iterations in the test case searching process. From the experimental result, it is observed that the proposed approach achieves higher fault detection rate, prioritization accuracy and lower execution time than the existing prioritization techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fibre-reinforced polymers (FRPs) are composite materials of plastics reinforced with fibres. Cars, sea, aeronautics, and foundation projects progressively utilize fibre-reinforced polymers. This study aims to study the effect of adding multiwalled nanotubes fillers into the hybridized jute-glass FRP composites and their relative properties. This study uses multiwalled nanotubes (MWCNTs), and particles-hybrid jute-glass composites containing jute fibre chopped layer mats, woven glass mats, epoxy resin, and multiwalled nanotubes fillers were created using the hand layup method. After adding multiwalled nanotubes fillers in various weight proportions, the mechanical behaviours of fibre-reinforced polymers were analysed. The mechanical behaviours of laminated composites were tested using the ASTM standard; the following properties are tensile, flexural, and impact strength. The multiwalled nanotubes with 6% wt. attained the maximum mechanical properties compared to the 2 and 4 wt. % of MWCNTs. The E-based specimen contributes the most to the different types of specimens, with a contribution of 24.21% for tensile, 25.03% for flexural, and 24.56% for impact. The microstructures of hybrid composites were studied using a scanning electron microscope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stir casting was utilized to generate the composites. The AA 2618–10wt% zirconium carbide 10wt% rice husk ash hybrid composite had the highest hardness value. In comparison to pure AA 2618, it had a 72% increase. The rule of mixture was used to compute theoretical density, whereas the Archimedes rule was utilized to evaluate real density. For AA 2618, AA 2618/zirconium carbide, and rice husk ash hybrid composites, simple carbide inserts were used for turning. Surface roughness, metal removal rate, and tool wear were among the numerous responses examined. RSM was utilized to analyze and optimize the test outcomes. Feed rate was the most critical issue for surface roughness and material removal rate. Tool wear was shown to be most strongly controlled by tool speed, whereas metal removal rate was found to be least significantly influenced by the weight percent of reinforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, citron peel biochar and opuntia‐cladode fibers (OCF) reinforced epoxy composites were fabricated and characterized for mechanical, wear, and electrical properties. The biochar was prepared from the waste peels of citron edible fruit whereas the opuntia fiber was from the cladode of the opuntia plant. The laminates were fabricated by hand layup process and evaluated in accordance with the ASTM standards. The results revealed that the mechanical properties such as tensile strength, flexural strength, impact toughness, hardness and adhesion strength were increased by 36.2%, 30.6%, 91.3%, 1.1%, and 5.3% for composite designation EC containing 30 vol% of OCF. Similarly, the addition of citron biochar of 2 vol% increased the load bearing and dielectric properties. However, the inclusion of 30 vol% of OCF on composite designation EC the sp. wear rate recorded 0.018 mm3/Nm. Similarly, the lowest coefficient of friction and sp. wear rate is observed to be 0.42 and 0.008 mm3/Nm for the composite with 2.0 vol% biochar. The ECO4 composite designation represented a maximum dielectric constant and dielectric loss of about 7.4 and 1.1, respectively. The SEM fractography demonstrates that the silane‐treatment strengthened the fiber‐matrix interface and improved the interlocking mechanism. Such mechanically robust, wear‐resistant improved and electrically conductive composites could be utilized in applications such as industrial sectors, spacecraft, automobile parts, packaging industries, and electrical appliances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The asymmetric oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides is realised with layered double hydroxides (LDH)-supported OsO4 catalyst using N-methyl morpholine N-oxide as co-oxidant and (DHQD)2PHAL (hydroquinidine 1,4-phthalazinediyl diether) as a chiral ligand in good yields albeit moderate enantiomeric excess (e.e''s). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Gingival recession (GR) is a common clinical feature of periodontal disease and is an undesirable condition. More than 50% of the population has one or more sites with GR ≥ 1 mm. Material and Methods: In this study 15 subjects were subjected to initial periodontal therapy such as ultrasonic scaling and root planning with hand instruments and curettes. Patient is motivated for home care. The buccal fat pad is harvested and sutured in the gingival recession area and followed up for 6 months and root coverage was calculated. Results: At baseline mean recession of 5.60 ± 1.18 mm, probing depth of 0.73 ± 0.59 mm, clinical attachment loss of 6.40 ± 1.18 mm were recorded. At the end of 6 months, the mean recession was reduced from 5.60 ± 1.18 mm to 2.87 ± 0.74 mm, probing depth was increased from 0.73 ± 0.59 mm to 1.73 ± 0.70 mm and clinical attachment loss was decreased from 6.40 ± 1.18 mm to 4.53 ± 0.83 mm.The difference between baseline score and six months score for all three parameters are statistically significant. Conclusion: Buccal fat pad is a predictable procedure to cover Miller's class III and class IV gingival recession defects. There was a definitive improvement in clinical parameters (reduction in gingival recession, increased probing depth, gain in clinical attachment) after 6 months. There was 46.78% improvement in root coverage which was statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Cesium lead iodide used as a light-absorbing material. • Uniform multicrystalline growth is confirmed by the electron microscopy. • The photo-anode forward and reverse scan direction experiment have done. • The Perovskite material cubic nature was determined by the electron diffraction. • Fabricated Perovskite solar cell gives the 2.75 and 3.10 % power efficiency. Abstract The newer route of poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) stabilized the cesium lead iodide (PEG-CsPbI 3) light-absorber have prepared for Inorganic perovskite solar cell application. The prepared PEG-CsPbI 3 , uniform multicrystalline growth on the electrode surface and surface morphologies were observed by the high resolution-tunneling electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. PEG-CsPbI 3 is in black color cubic crystalline phase at 350 °C that results confirmed by X-ray diffraction pattern. Also, the cubic nature is confirmed through that selected area electron diffraction pattern. From the Fourier transform-infrared spectra, the functional groups of cesium, lead hydroxide and Pb-I-Pb stretching vibrations and the relevant frequency modes is confirmed. The current-voltage curves at 10 mV/S scan rate are performed in the two different directions. The PEG-CsPbI 3 coated photo-anode stability is monitored through forward and reverse scan direction maximum 25 days, 3.01% of the average efficiency is achieved by in the 20th days stabilized device, particularly in the reverse scan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The review was carried out to discuss in detail about theemulgel formulations for the non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. In emulgel is a novel dosage form for topical delivery of various drugs. It is applying into the skin as semisolid preparation and it contact with the epidermis of skin. The mainadvantage of using topical delivery isbypass the first pass metabolism, shelf medicated, improve patient compliance, more selective to a specific site, incorporation of hydrophobic drugs, better loading capacity, enhanced stability, production probability and low preparation cost and Controlled release in comparison to other drugdelivery systems. The formation of emulgel depends on oil phase, aqueous phase, emulsifiers, polymers and the permeation enhancers used in the formulations. The review was focused on types, advantages, disadvantages of emulgel, constituents, preparation method and various characterization studies of emulgels, mechanism of NSAIDs, various marketed NSAIDs emulgel formulations and current research on NSAIDs emulgel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Targeted nanomedicines improve the delivery of drugs by increasing the drug concentration at target site, protecting the premature degradation and releasing the encapsulated drug in controlled manner. To make rifampicin (RFN) delivery more effective, we designed and characterized wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) conjugated, RFN loaded solid-lipid nanoparticles (WRSN). Nanoparticles were prepared by solvent emulsification/evaporation and conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled WGA. Important characteristics, such as particle size, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency, conjugation efficiency and in vitro drug release behavior, were investigated. WGA conjugation to the nanoparticles was confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis. Conjugation efficiency was determined by fluorescent spectroscopy and Bradford assay. RFN was released from nanoparticles via the diffusion-controlled, non-fickian and supercase II mechanism. A haemaglutination test confirmed that WGA retained its bio-recognition activity and sugar-binding specificity after it was coupled with the nanoparticles. In vitro experiments demonstrated that WRSN interacted more than non-conjugated nanoparticles with porcine mucin. WRSN were stable in the presence of electrolytes up to 1M concentration. Therefore, WGA-conjugated solid lipid nanoparticles could be a promising tool for the controlled delivery of RFN or other anti-tubercular drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During development, axonal projections have a remarkable ability to innervate correct dendritic subcompartments of their target neurons and to form regular neuronal circuits. Altered axonal targeting with formation of synapses on inappropriate neurons may result in neurodevelopmental sequelae, leading to psychiatric disorders. Here we show that altering the expression level of the polysialic acid moiety, which is a developmentally regulated, posttranslational modification of the neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM, critically affects correct circuit formation. Using a chemically modified sialic acid precursor ( N-propyl- d-mannosamine), we inhibited the polysialyltransferase ST8SiaII, the principal enzyme involved in polysialylation during development, at selected developmental time-points. This treatment altered NCAM polysialylation while NCAM expression was not affected. Altered polysialylation resulted in an aberrant mossy fiber projection that formed glutamatergic terminals on pyramidal neurons of the CA1 region in organotypic slice cultures and in vivo. Electrophysiological recordings revealed that the ectopic terminals on CA1 pyramids were functional and displayed characteristics of mossy fiber synapses. Moreover, ultrastructural examination indicated a 'mossy fiber synapse'-like morphology. We thus conclude that homeostatic regulation of the amount of synthesized polysialic acid at specific developmental stages is essential for correct synaptic targeting and circuit formation during hippocampal development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Multiple sclerosis (MS) is considered a chronic inflammatory and demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Evidence that axonal and neuronal pathology contributes to the disease is accumulating, however, the distribution of neuronal injury as well as the underlying mechanisms have not yet been fully clarified. Here, we investigated the role of neuronal cell loss in MS and its animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Methods We performed electrophysiological investigations in MS patients, including assessment of compound muscle action potentials and motor unit numbers and quantified neuronal cell loss in human MS samples and different EAE models by high-precision stereology. Results Both electrophysiological and morphological analyses indicated a massive loss of lower motor neurons in MS patients. We regularly found dying spinal motor neurons surrounded by CD3+ (CD4+ as well as CD8+) T cells expressing tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). We observed a similar degree of damage and immune attack in different variants of EAE; the lower motor neurons were preserved in adoptive transfer EAE induced with TRAIL-deficient T lymphocytes. Interpretation Our study indicates that damage to lower motor neurons and TRAIL-mediated inflammatory neurodegeneration in the spinal cord contribute to MS pathology. Ann Neurol 2009;66:310-332 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Evidence-based approach to glaucoma management" by C. Garudadri and colleagues in the 2011 issue.

The article describes the case of a woman in India who consumed a fallen umbilical cord stump to treat her infertility. The woman was advised by her mother-in-law to consume the umbilical cord stump after failing to conceive after four years of marriage. Her mother-in-law and neighbors believed that the stomach is connected to the uterus, and that the cord had entered the uterus through the stomach, thus inducing pregnancy.