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Scientific advancement in exploration and exploitation of microbial community structure is fundamentally driven by discoveries and development of new technologies. This review summarizes the techno-scientific advancement based exploitation of the bacterial diversity of saline and soda lakes. Advancement in DNA based technologies have become a paradigm shift in microbiome community mapping of extreme environment. Further, we focused on alternative modern techniques that can be used as for the identification of bacteria and classification of bacterial diversity, as well as highlighted general description of hypersaline and soda lakes as microbial habitats based on molecular techniques. However molecular methods are detailed briefly as are the standard techniques for assessing genome content for taxonomic classification of bacterial diversity. This review provides advance microbial techniques insight for exploitation of microbial community landscape from extreme water bodies.

Cancer patients often suffer from pain related problems such as under-treatment of pain, ineffective and persistent opioid administration as well as adverse opioid use outcomes. There is a growing need for non-opioid analgesic alternatives for patients undergoing treatment for obstinate pain. Ketamine is a fast-acting N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist that has been emerging as an effective medication for pain alleviation. While protocols have been established for the use of Low-Dose Ketamine (LDK) for post-operative pain, there is growing evidence for using LDK as a clinical alternative to opioids in a palliative care setting. This case study involves monitoring the efficacy of LDK treatment in combination with opioid analgesics in a cancer patient in a hospital setting. This is a very selected case of a patient with Metastatic Prostate Cancer (Gleason 9 Adenocarcinoma) where LDK was shown to be efficacious at reducing pain when opioids and standard pain medications were not satisfactory. While the study involved using a relatively novel pharmacological protocol and close patient monitoring, the patient reported a sustained reduction in pain level based on the Numerical Rating Scale for months after the termination of LDK infusions. Moreover, the treatment also resulted in a reduction of total opioid usage after the addition of LDK. Although additional research is needed to ascertain optimal dosing schedules and route of Ketamine, given these promising findings, Ketamine may be a useful option for improving the treatment of refractory pain in patients with cancer and a good tool in palliative medicine for treating neoplastic pain.

Sharp one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) structures are required for stable and efficient field emission. 1D metal oxide and 1D carbonaceous nanostructure material have been used widely for exciting field emission applications. On the other hand, planar, continuous 2D nanostructures have been less explored, as most often, they offer inefficient field emitters, having high turn-on field and low emission current density. A combination of 1D and 2D nanostructures is expected to improve field emission properties. In the present study, nickel oxide nanostructures were considered as 1D nanostructures, which were synthesized on cleaned, polished, nickel foil substrate by wet chemical treatment through the nano-seed mechanism. Pyramidal shape nanostructures of NiO were found onto nickel substrate. 1D nanostructure, NiO nanostructure, does not show any field emission response. Further, graphene oxide (GO) was used as the 2D nanostructure.) While nickel oxide nanostructure and graphene oxide individually demonstrated very low emission properties, hybrid of these materials show modified surface topography and enhanced field emission properties. The field emission response of graphene oxide on Ni foil shows 6.7 V/μm turn-on field and maximum current density of 28 µA/cm2, whereas graphene oxide on NiO nanostructure has enhanced field emission response. In the case of NiO–GO, the turn-on field and maximum current are 5 V/μm and 173 µA/cm2, respectively. Field emission properties are enhanced further with the reduction of the NiO–GO hybrid and depositing CNT of NiO. The maximum current density of 3.7 mA/cm2was observed for the NiO–CNT hybrid.

Recently, several reversible data hiding (RDH) techniques based on pixel value ordering (PVO) have been proposed that precisely embed the secret data into cover images. As the neighboring pixels in smooth images are highly correlated, these methods perform better for smooth images but achieve comparatively low performance for roughly textured images. In many application domains like satellite imagery, the cover images are not always smooth. So, the performance of existing PVO based methods for roughly textured images needs to be improved. In this paper, we propose a novel RDH method based on PVO that is specially designed for improving the hiding performance in roughly textured images. In the proposed method, a segmentation scheme is used to cluster the pixels into different segments based on their intensity values. The segmentation ensures that the pixels in each segment are highly correlated to each other and each segment is divided into non-overlapping blocks of size $$ 2 \times 2 $$ where a block can hide at most two data bits in the smallest and the largest valued pixel. The size of the block is further extended by $$ 2 \times 1 $$ pixels if the complexity level of the block is ‘0’. The proposed method results in an increase in the hiding capacity as well as the visual quality of the stego images as the correlation of each block is increased which in turn limits the number of shifted pixels. The experimental results also prove the superiority of the proposed method against the existing PVO based RDH methods.

The aim of this study was to understand the distribution of various somatotype components and determine the age- and sex-related variations of the somatotype among Sunni Muslim population of Uttar Pradesh, India. The study population consisted of 214 individuals (100 males and 114 females), belonging to the age group of 18–73 years. All somatometric measurements were taken according to the protocol of the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK). Anthropometric somatotyping was done using Heath and Carter method. Somatotype dispersion distances (SDD), mean somatotype dispersion (SDM), and standard deviation of somatotype dispersion distance (DSD) were calculated. Somatochart was also plotted for the body physique of the studied population. The results showed that mean somatotype of males is balanced endomorph (4.2–3.2–3.1), while that of females is mesomorphic endomorph (6.6–3.7–1.2). Endomorphy and mesomorphy increased with age up to 55 years and then decreased thereafter; however, ectomorphy showed the opposite trend in both the sexes. The findings of the study indicate that males and females of Sunni Muslim population are predominantly endomorphic.

Vitiligo is a complex genetic skin depigmentation disorder caused by the destruction of melanocyte from the lesional site. Liver X Receptor-α (LXR-α) expression is upregulated in the melanocytes from perilesional skin as compared to the normal skin of vitiligo patient suggesting its involvement in vitiligo pathogenesis. Polymorphisms in LXR-α have been associated with several diseases including cardiovascular disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and diabetes. In this study, for the first time, we have investigated the association of LXR-α gene polymorphisms and risk of vitiligo. Sixty six vitiligo patients and 75 matched healthy control subjects who did not have any history of vitiligo or any other autoimmune disorder were recruited. The DNA isolated from patients and healthy controls was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) for both rs11039155 (− 6 G > A) and rs2279238 (+ 1257 C > T) variants. Our data suggest significant association between the LXR-α gene polymorphisms and vitiligo susceptibility (rs11039155: odds ratio (OR) = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.07–3.71, p = 0.03; rs2279238: OR = 1.70, 95% CI = 1.06–2.73, p = 0.027). Our results provide an evidence that the LXR-α − 6A and + 1257T alleles contribute to risk of vitiligo in North Indian population and highlight the importance of this gene in the vitiligo pathogenesis., Highlights • Two SNPs (rs11039155 and rs2279238) of LXR-alpha were genotyped in Indian population. • Both these SNPs are associated with vitiligo risk in Indian population. • In dominant and co-dominant models, rs11039155 predisposes individuals to vitiligo. • In recessive and homozygous models, rs2279238 predisposes individuals to vitiligo.

The present study aims to investigate the role of Global DNA Methylation in Depression. A total of 368 individuals (118 males and 250 females) were screened for depression using PHQ9 (Patient Health Questionnaire 9) and 5-mc% (5-methyl cytosine) content of Peripheral Leucocytes DNA was measured by enzyme linked calorimetric based MethyFlash™ methylated DNA quantification kit. Among individuals with depression a lower Global DNA methylation (though not significant) in terms of 5-mc% (5-methyl cytosine) content was observed compared to individuals without depression.

This paper presents an efficient method based on thresholding for images that are corrupted due to Gaussian noise. In order to achieve this task, wavelet transforms and various thresholding techniques have been applied. But the selection of the thresholding technique is restricted due to their widespread use in image denoising application. In this paper, a more efficient thresholding scheme named as neigh shrink sure is studied by incorporating the neighboring wavelet coefficients. Different thresholding techniques like Bayes shrink and Neigh shrink sure algorithms are applied to different images. The results are obtained using 3 different wavelets db-4, sym-4, and coif-4. It has been observed that the use of coif-4 transform produces better results as compared to other wavelet transforms. Further, it has been analyzed that Neigh Shrink sure method performs better in de-noising of corrupted images in comparison to Bayes shrink thresholding technique by possessing higher Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and lower Mean Square Error (MSE).

Summary Background Indigenous populations in India are amongst the poorest and most marginalized population groups experiencing severe health deprivation. Aim The present study is the first study that aims to understand the association of micronutrient deficiencies (vitamin B12 and folate) and MTHFR C677T gene polymorphism with depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) among the Bhil indigenous population of India. Methods A total of 303 participants aged 25–65 years of both sexes and unrelated up to first cousins belonging to Bhil indigenous population were recruited for the present study. Depression and generalized anxiety disorder were assessed using Patient Health Questionnaire and Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, respectively. Biochemical analysis, DNA extraction and MTHFR C677T gene polymorphism analysis were done using standard protocols. Results Although, vitamin B12 and folate status was not found to be directly associated with depression and GAD, but hyperhomocysteinemia was posing more than three folds and six folds significant increased risk for depression and GAD, respectively. Further, it seems hyperhomocysteinemia was mediated by vitamin B12 deficiency among depressed and anxious individuals. T allele of MTHFR C677T gene polymorphism was posing increased risk for depression and anxiety disorder though not significant. Conclusion The present study highlights the significance of micronutrient deficiencies in the causation of depression and anxiety disorder.

The present study attempts to understand the association of homocysteine, vitamin B12, folate, and MTHFR C677T gene polymorphism with cognitive impairment (CI) among 808 individuals of either sex (aged 30–70 years) from a largely vegetarian, mendelian population of North India. Biochemical and genetic analyses were done using standard protocols. Results indicate that 34.3% of the subjects had mild CI, 28.7% moderate CI and 0.2% were having severe CI. Hyperhomocysteinemia was found to be a significant risk factor for moderate/severe CI. Both CT genotype and T allele of MTHFR C677T gene polymorphism were found to pose significant decreased risk for CI.

In this paper, we have introduced an architecture for real-time video transmission over multiple- input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication systems. We employ the 2x1 and 2x2 Alamouti MIMO technique to develop a transmission system and implement the design on FPGA using Xilinx System using the modeling and simulation capabilities of MATLAB. Furthermore, according to the contribution to the reconstructed video quality, we apply unequal error protection strategy using STBC space-time codes for each video bitstream. We present a solution using FPGA as target platform (instead of software), for implementing algorithms for transmission of educational videos using MIMO systems. In our proposed system, we have provided the system performance of a joint MPEG-2 coding scheme with convolutional channel coding and space time block coding (STBC) techniques, associated with suitable modulation method (QAM and BPSK), for video data transmission over a wireless MIMO system with Rayleigh fading noises. Simulation results show the quality of the reconstructed image can be significantly improved over only using space time coding. The comparison has been done on the basis of quality of reproduced image by measuring image PSNR based on SNR and BER value for different system model is realized over Xilinx Virtex-4 XC4VFX100FFG1517-11C FPGA based WRAP board. Keywords: FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Arrays); STBC (Space Time Block Coding), Bit error rate(BER), FPGA, Peak to signal noise ratio (PSNR), Multiple input multiple output (MIMO), WRAP board, Joint source channel coding, Space time block coding(STBC).

In recent past Wireless Sensor Network has emerged as a promising technology and has proved to be a leading motivational force for a new innovation namely Internet of Things. Due to characteristics constraints, security is one of key challenge to sustain the performance of wireless sensor networks. Blackhole attack is a major threat for Wireless Sensor Network in which an intruder absorbs the traffic intended for base station by introducing a malicious node. In this paper a new technique is proposed to detect and prevent blackhole attack in Wireless Sensor Network. The simulation results obtained with the proposed technique establishes that in the event of blackhole attack the malicious node is successfully detected and usage of proposed technique prevents the deterioration in the performance of Wireless Sensor Network.

This paper is based on proposing the system for automatic detection of alphanumeric characters from license plates of vehicles. The algorithm is designed for extraction of characters from low contrast, night vision and normal images of license plates. National Instruments Vision builder software for automated inspection is used for real time implementation of an algorithm. The algorithm in vision builder is interfaced with Arduino. When the license plate of vehicle is recognized then the servo motor connected with Arduino will open the gate otherwise gate will remain closed. The system can be applied in traffic monitoring systems, parking areas, Border areas etc.

Changes in expression and secretion levels of cystatin C (CysC) in the brain in various neurological disorders and in animal models of neurodegeneration underscore a role for CysC in these conditions. A polymorphism in the CysC gene (CST3) is linked to increased risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD pathology is characterized by deposition of oligomeric and fibrillar forms of amyloid β (Aβ) in the neuropil and cerebral vessel walls, neurofibrillary tangles composed mainly of hyperphosphorylated tau, and neurodegeneration. The implication of CysC in AD was initially suggested by its co-localization with Aβ in amyloid-laden vascular walls, and in senile plaque cores of amyloid in the brains of patients with AD, Down's syndrome, hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis, Dutch type (HCHWA-D), and cerebral infarction. CysC also co-localizes with Aβ amyloid deposits in the brains of non-demented aged individuals. Multiple lines of research show that CysC plays protective roles in AD. In vitro studies have shown that CysC binds Aβ and inhibits Aβ oligomerization and fibril formation. In vivo results from the brains and plasma of Aβ-depositing transgenic mice confirmed the association of CysC with the soluble, non-pathological form of Aβ and the inhibition of Aβ plaques formation. The association of CysC with Aβ was also found in brain and in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from AD patients and non-demented control individuals. Moreover, in vitro results showed that CysC protects neuronal cells from a variety of insults that may cause cell death, including cell death induced by oligomeric and fibrillar Aβ. These data suggest that the reduced levels of CysC manifested in AD contribute to increased neuronal vulnerability and impaired neuronal ability to prevent neurodegeneration. This review elaborates on the neuroprotective roles of CysC in AD and the clinical relevance of this protein as a therapeutic agent.

The paper explores and compare the effect of different types of wormhole attacks on the performance of On demand routing protocols in Mobile Adhoc networks (MANET's). The evaluation has been done by studying and comparing End to End delay and throughput for all drop, all pass and threshold type of wormhole attacks.