Search

Background: Oral cancer ranks the top three of all cancers in India. This study aimed to determine etiologic factors for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue and its management. Methods: This longitudinal retrospective study was conducted with 30 patients of biopsy- proven SCC of tongue diagnosed in our hospital between the years of 2010-2022. Medical records, including history of abuse of alcohol, betel nuts, tobacco products and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection were recorded. The patients details including tumour size, location, node metastasis, grade, disease recurrence, other primary cancers, delay time until diagnosis, therapy course were noted. Patients were analyzed based on etiology and management undertaken. Results: Among 30 patients with SCC tongue, 25 (83.33%) were males, 5 (16.66%) were females. Smoking was significantly higher in males (20 patients), in those 5 alcoholics. Chronic mechanical trauma was observed in 5 patients. HPV infection was observed in 2 males, 3 females had betel nut chewing habit and use of smokeless tobacco. Among 30 cases alcohol abuse, smoking, chronic mechanical traumas, HPV infection and betel nut chewing appeared as significant etiologic factors of which smoking was the most common etiology (50%). Surgical excision with neck dissection followed by radiotherapy was treatment undertaken in our study patients based on SCC tongue stage. Conclusions: our study concluded that smoking is the most common etiology of SCC tongue, the definitive treatment is surgery combined with radiotherapy based on TNM staging.

With recent technological advances, adding nanomaterials as a reinforcement material in concrete has gained immense attention. This review paper aims to report advances in the form of a one-stop shop catering to methods that focus on improving the quality of traditional concrete. Nanoparticles—the elementary form of nanomaterials—are proven to enhance the strength and longevity of concrete. Nanosilica, nanoalumina, nanometakaolin, carbon nanotubes, and nanotitanium oxide are modern nanomaterials that have demonstrated strong evidence of enhancing concrete quality, which supports infrastructure building and long-term monitoring. Nanoconcrete—an exciting prospect extending the boundaries of traditional civil engineering—exhibited increased compressive and flexural strength using elementary compounds. In particular, the rigorous research survey of many articles reveals an increase in compressive strength from 20% to 63% by replacing the cement with different nanomaterials in different percentages and flexural strength from 16% to 47%.

In this manuscript, we provide some new results for the existence of fixed points for a certain contractive condition of Geraghty type in the setting of partially ordered $G$-metric space. Also, we provide an example to illustrate the usability of results. Our results generalize or extend many well known results in the literature.

Jaradat has proven some fixed point results using JS-G-contraction on $G-$metric spaces. Choudhury et al. were derived coupled fixed point theorems for the $G-$metric spaces. The purpose of this paper is to prove some coupled fixed point theorems of JS-G-contraction on G-metric spaces. Moreover, some example is presented to illustrate the validity of our results.

The present study was aimed to isolate and characterize the Extended Spectrum Beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli from faecal samples of dogs in Puducherry, India. In this study, 100 E. coli isolates were obtained from 50 healthy dogs and 50 diarrheic dogs, out of which 33 (33%) isolates were confirmed as ESBL producers by the combination disc method. All the E. coli isolates were genotypically confirmed for the presence of genes responsible for ESBL production. Out of 100 E. coli isolates, fourteen (14%), seven (7%) and three (3%) isolates were found to be positive for blaTEM, SHV and CTX-M genes, respectively. The present study highlighted ESBL-producing E. coli in dogs in Puducherry region.

Cryptography plays a vital role in securing sensitive information in various domains. Hill cipher, a classic encryption technique, has been widely used for its simplicity and effectiveness. However, the original Hill cipher is susceptible to certain attacks due to its limited key space and vulnerable characteristics. In this study, we propose an enhanced version of the Hill cipher called the “Block Hill Cipher” that overcomes the limitations of the original algorithm while preserving its fundamental principles. To increase the safety and effectiveness of the encryption process, the Block Hill Cipher offers a number of unique ideas. The Block Hill Cipher encrypts blocks of characters rather than single4 characters, making it possible to encrypt longer sequences at once. By expanding the key space and making the cipher more resistant to statistical attacks, this method greatly enhances the cipher’s overall security. In light drawbacks the present paper deals with a fresh strategy in which our algorithm by incorporating while upholding the Hill cipher’s fundamental ideas. Hence on the findings of the study may be useful cryptographic tool ranging from communication systems to data storage and transmission in modern digital environments.

Background: In recent years increased frequency of mammary gland neoplasms have been reported in captive wild felids. Basing on published data, in tigers mammary gland carcinoma always seems to be highly invasive and metastatic. The present report describes a case of Mammary carcinoma with metastasis to lungs in a 20 year old Royal Bengal Tiger. Methods: Detailed necropsy examination of Royal Bengal Tiger revealed the subcutaneous massive lesion in the lower abdominal region. Representative tissue samples were collected in 10% formalin for histopathology examination. Result: Histopathological examination revealed small clusters of neoplastic epithelial cells. Micropapillae lacking fibrovascular cores extending into clear spaces. Cells exhibit moderate anisokaryosis and anisocytosis and variable numbers of mitoses with proliferation of fibrous connective tissue. Microscopic examination of lungs revealed the congestion, edema with focal proliferative neoplastic epithelial cells arranged in small clusters were scattered in the alveolar walls and spaces, indicative of metastasis. These histological features were suggestive of Mammary carcinoma with micropapillary pattern.

We develop two distributed downlink resource allocation algorithms for user-centric, cell-free, spatially-distributed, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) networks. In such networks, each user is served by a subset of nearby transmitters that we call distributed units or DUs. The operation of the DUs in a region is controlled by a central unit (CU). Our first scheme is implemented at the DUs, while the second is implemented at the CUs controlling these DUs. We define a hybrid quality of service metric that enables distributed optimization of system resources in a proportional fair manner. Specifically, each of our algorithms performs user scheduling, beamforming, and power control while accounting for channel estimation errors. Importantly, our algorithm does not require information exchange amongst DUs (CUs) for the DU-distributed (CU-distributed) system, while also smoothly converging. Our results show that our CU-distributed system provides 1.3- to 1.8-fold network throughput compared to the DU-distributed system, with minor increases in complexity and front-haul load - and substantial gains over benchmark schemes like local zero-forcing. We also analyze the trade-offs provided by the CU-distributed system, hence highlighting the significance of deploying multiple CUs in user-centric cell-free networks., To appear in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications

In this paper, first, we deal with new metric space Sm-metric space that combines multiplicative metric space and S-metric space. We generate a common fixed point theorem in a Sm-metric space using the notions of reciprocally continuous mappings, faintly compatible mappings and occasionally weakly compatible mappings (OWC). We are also studying the well-posedness of Sm metric space. Further, some examples are presented to support our outcome.

The aim of this paper is to generate two fixed point theorems in probabilistic 2-metric space by applying CLR’S-property and occasionally weakly compatible mappings (OWC), these two results generalize the theorem proved by V. K. Gupta, Arihant Jain and Rajesh Kumar. Further these results are justified with suitable examples.

Additive manufacturing is emerging as a promising technology for fabrication of compositionally graded materials, especially ceramic coatings over metals. The compositionally graded materials are potential candidates for minimizing residual stresses due to abrupt changes in the thermo-physical properties at the metal–ceramic joints. The performance of these additively manufactured compositionally graded materials depends on the microstructure of each layer and the residual stress distribution. This work presents the results of a study on one such additively deposited metal–ceramic combination, NiCr–YSZ, which finds wide applications in thermal barrier coatings. The composites of NiCr–YSZ with varying YSZ contents viz. 15%, 35% and 65% in NiCr were additively deposited on Ni-base superalloy substrate. The deposits were studied for microstructural characteristics and phase analysis. Thermo-physical properties, such as coefficient of thermal expansion and thermal diffusivity, were also evaluated for NiCr–YSZ composites. Further, NiCr–YSZ material combination was additively deposited as discrete interface and as compositionally graded deposits. The through-thickness residual stresses across the build direction were experimentally determined using micro-focus XRD technique and compared.

3D printing is a process of creating a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital CAD model which is fast growing from research to production technology. The present study is aimed to develop the fuel injector component using 3D printing technology for missile applications. The primary objective is to demonstrate the potential advantages of 3D printing like reduction in part assembly, elimination expensive EBW for joining, CNC machining and also EDM processes without any compromise in functional performance of the component. The re-design of fuel injector was carried out by adopting a novel design concept by modifying the features of internal chamber, thereby completely avoiding the necessity for support structures in 3D printing. Different design configurations were developed with flow optimisation and topology optimisation for weight reduction, for 3D printing of the component. Initially, a proof of concept model was successfully built in IN718 alloy powder material using PBF-based 3D printing facility at AERDC, HAL. The 3D-printed fuel injector in as-deposited condition was evaluated using X-ray 3D tomography which has revealed well-formed internal features and uniform material density without any macro pores or cracks. XRF confirmed the chemical homogeneity at different locations on 3D-printed component. Microstructural characterisation was carried out using optical microscopy (OM), SEM and EBSD analysis. The OM evaluation indicated presence of micro-porosity (

BACKGROUND Sepsis is defined as life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. According to sepsis - 3 criteria, sepsis is diagnosed by Sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score of more than two. Surviving sepsis campaign introduced a newer scoring system, quick SOFA (QSOFA) score which uses only clinical parameters to prognosticate sepsis bed side and at the earliest. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the QSOFA score and then compare it to SOFA score in prognostication of sepsis. METHODS This study was a prospective observational study conducted in R. L. Jalappa Hospital among 150 individuals. Assessment of SOFA and QSOFA score was done and its significance in predicting mortality and morbidity was compared. RESULTS There were 87 males and 63 females. Mortality rate was 38.7 %. The initial QSOFA score of 1, 2 and 3 had mortality rate of 5.2 %, 24.1 % and 70.7 % respectively. Initial SOFA score of < 4, 4 - 8 and > 8 had mortality rate of 5.2 %, 37.9 % and 56.9 % respectively. Interpretation - The SOFA score had statistically significant correlation in assessing need for ventilator support, QSOFA score had a significant relation assessing need for ventilator support, vasopressor support. CONCLUSIONS Both scores demonstrated good accuracy for predicting in-hospital mortality. The QSOFA scoring system can aid where the resources are limited. KEY WORDS Sepsis, SOFA Score, QSOFA Score, Septic Shock

Background: Current treatment with statins has become an integral part of vascular diseases but monotherapy has a significant residual event rate. Due to particularly one of the factor associated with atherogenic lipid phenotype that is characterized by a low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and increase in non-HDL cholesterol like Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL). Omega-3 Fatty acids have demonstrated a preventiverole in primary and, particularly secondary cardiovascular diseases. Hence this study was planned to compare the efficacy of Atorvastatin alone with Atorvastatin and Omega-3 fatty acids in treatment in hyperlipidaemia patients. Methods: The study was comparative, randomized, and prospective and open labeled conducted in MI patients. A total of 100 patients were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were divided randomly into two Groups (Group–A and Group-B). Group-A was given Atorvastatin 10mg/day and Group-B was given Atorvastatin 10mg/day and Omega-3 fatty acids 600mg/day for 6 months. Follow up was done every month and efficacy was measured by assessing the lipoprotein levels in serum. Results: The results were compared before treatment and after 6 months treatment.The levels were significantly decreased Total Cholesterol (TC), LDL, Low-Density Lipoprotein (VLDL), Triglycerides (TG) and HDL levels were increased in Group–A and Group-B. When these results compared between two Groups the HDL levels were increased also it shown high significance (

Rumki Basu, Democracy and Public Policy in the Post-Covid-19 World: Choices and Outcomes. Routledge, 2021, 217 pp., ₹3,029.69 (eBook).

Meteorological flash droughts (MFDs) are sub-seasonal-to-seasonal drought phenomena characterized by rapid onset/intensification. This study assesses the changes in trends and hotspot regions of MFDs for the present and five future CMIP6 SSP forcing scenarios (SSP-FS) at global-, continental- and regional-scales. Analysis with 12 GCMs indicates that globally, frequency, duration and severity of MFDs are projected to increase ~20–50%, 20–58%, and 26–62%, respectively, with the highest occurrence probability during the summer season. The MFD hotspot regions appeared prominent in arid and semi-arid zones. MFD exposure risk is projected to exceed ~1.5 folds in most continents, with the highest risk in the Indian sub-continent. Furthermore, in Europe and South America, which are currently less impacted by MFDs, a considerable increase in hotspot regions (~122–127%) is projected under the warmest SSP-FS. The LULC-classes and elevation range most vulnerable to MFDs, and regional potential hydrometeorological drivers that trigger the development of MFDs are identified.

M. Ramachandran, Bringing Governments and People Closer: A Development Practitioner’s Prescriptions. Ghaziabad: Copal Publishing, 2021, 126 pp. ISBN: 978-9383419975.

Zygomaticomaxillary complex (ZMC) fractures are relatively common. Zygomatic complex fractures with functional or aesthetic impairments often require surgical intervention. Treatment of ZMC fractures consists of reduction and fixation of the dislocated bone fragments to their original location. The zygomaticomaxillary complex functions as a major buttress for the face and because of its prominent convex shape, is frequently involved in facial trauma.1 ZMC fractures are also called tripod, tetrapod, quadripod, malar or trimalar fractures. They account for approximately 15 % - 23.5 % of maxillofacial fractures.2,3 The aetiology of zygomatic complex fractures primarily includes road traffic accidents (RTA), violent assaults, falls and sports injuries. They are the second most common facial fracture after nasal bone fractures.3-6 ZMC fractures are more common in men than women, and most commonly occur in the third decade of life.7-10 The main clinical features of zygomatic complex fractures include diplopia, enophthalmos, subconjunctival ecchymosis, extraocular muscle entrapment, cosmetic deformity, malocclusion and neurosensory disturbances of the infra-orbital nerve.10 The gold standard radiological investigation for evaluation of ZMC fractures is computed tomography (CT) scan. Surgical intervention is effective in cases of displaced and comminuted fractures involving functional and aesthetic defects, whereas a nonsurgical approach is often used for non-displaced fractures.11 Various surgical approaches and treatment strategies have been proposed to obtain a successful treatment outcome. Based on review of literature, it has been observed that the open reduction with internal fixation using mini plates and screws is the most commonly preferred treatment for displaced and comminuted fractures.10-12 Here, we report a clinical case of right zygomaticomaxillary complex fracture and its management.

Real-time video anomaly detection and localization still prevail as a challenging task. Autoencoders are expected to give high reconstruction error for abnormal events than normal events while trained on video segments of normal events. Nevertheless, this assumption is not always true in practice. Sometimes the autoencoder offers better generalization. Therefore, it also reconstructs abnormal events well, leading to slightly degraded performance for anomaly detection. To alleviate this issue, we propose a Skip connected and Memory Guided Network (SMGNet) for video anomaly detection. The memory guided network with skip connection help in avoiding loss of meaningful information such as foreground patterns, in addition to memorizing significant normality patterns. The effect of augmenting memory guided network with skip connection in the residual spatiotemporal autoencoder (R-STAE) architecture is evaluated. The proposed technique achieved improved results over three benchmark datasets.

The current investigation dwells on the vibration severity and degree of noise assessment of a direct injection compression ignition engine running with SiO2 nanoparticles dispersed biodiesel blend (BD20). The Abrus precatorius seed oil biodiesel blend was used in this investigation. The Silicon dioxide (SiO2) nanoparticle was considered as a fuel additive. The nanoparticle proportion was varied in BD20 as 50, 75, and 100 ppm respectively while the dispersant was also mixed to nanoparticle at a 1:1 ratio for the surface modification. The entire fuels were tested in a direct injection diesel engine by varying the injection pressures (180 bar, 200 bar, 220 bar, and 240 bar) for the assessment of engine vibration and noise. It can be observed that the nanoparticle additives in BD20 have shown tremendous control in vibration and noise together with dispersant added nano fuel. Besides, the higher fuel injection pressure exposed a lower intensity of vibration and noise. The dispersant mixed additive fuel has a greater reduction in operating parameters. The least RMS velocity and RMS noise were accomplished with BD20 + 75SiO2 + 75DSP compared to leftover fuels used. The injection pressure upgrade has indicated a progressive decrease in vibration and noise. At 240 bar, the lower intensity of vibration and noise of BD20 + 75SiO2 + 75DSP were 0.233 m/s and 53.29 dB individually.

Concrete composite slab system with pre-cast bottom segment and cast-in-situ top segment is gaining importance due to wide-ranging applications in buildings, bridges and industrial flooring, etc. These slabs may also be subjected to repeated loading during its service life and hence, it is essential to evaluate their static and fatigue behaviour under flexural loading. In present study, at first, experimental investigations are conducted to evaluate the performance of composite slabs with truss type shear connectors with two orientation angles, namely, 45° and 60°. The composite slab specimens are subjected to four-point bending. The load-versus-displacement responses obtained for the composite slabs are compared with that of control full slab. It is observed that the composite slab with 45° shear connector showed better performance when compared to composite slab with 60° shear connector in terms of load-displacement response, rotation, ductility and energy absorption and also found to be efficient in terms of area of steel crossing the interface. Further, numerical investigations are also carried out to assess load transfer mechanism of truss type shear connectors at different significant events. The force flow mechanism of truss type shear connectors is brought out clearly. From the numerical investigations on composite slabs with different orientation angles, it is observed that composite slab with 45° shear connector exhibited superior performance over other orientation angles in terms of better force flow mechanism and lesser area of steel crossing the interface. Further, fatigue performance of composite slab with 45° shear connector is evaluated and compared with the fatigue performance of control slab. It could be observed that the composite slab with 45° truss type shear connector showed better fatigue performance when compared to the control slab.

Ram Sewak Sharma, The Making of Aadhar: The World’s Largest Identity Platform. New Delhi, India: Rupa Publishers, 2020, 240 pp., ₹595.00.

Estimates of probable maximum precipitation (PMP) and corresponding probable maximum flood (PMF) are necessary for planning, design, and risk assessment of flood control structures whose failure could have catastrophic consequences. For PMP estimation, multifractal approach (MA) is deemed to be better than conventional approaches, which are based either on statistical concepts or physical aspects. The MA yields physically meaningful PMP estimates by attempting to capture scale-invariant multiplicative cascade mechanism inherent in rainfall. This paper attempts to gain insights into the performance of MA by comparing PMP estimates obtained using the approach with those resulting from the use of two widely used empirical approaches (storm maximization approach (SMA) and Hershfield method (HM)) on two flood-prone river basins (Mahanadi and Godavari) in India. The results indicate that rainfall data of the two river basins exhibit multifractal properties, and the use of MA has an advantage over HM and SMA in estimating PMP corresponding to longer durations (>3 days). PMP estimates obtained using HM are generally lower (higher) than those obtained using SMA for 1-day (higher) duration. PMP maps are prepared for the two Indian river basins corresponding to 1-day to 5-day durations. Further, PMP estimates obtained based on the PMP maps are provided for 18 catchments in the Mahanadi basin and 53 catchments in the Godavari river basin.

BACKGROUND: The item analysis of multiple choice questions (MCQs) is an essential tool that can provide input on validity and reliability of items. It helps to identify items which can be revised or discarded, thus building a quality MCQ bank. METHODS: The study focussed on item analysis of 90 MCQs of three tests conducted for 150 first year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) physiology students. The item analysis explored the difficulty index (DIF I) and discrimination index (DI) with distractor effectiveness (DE). Statistical analysis was performed by using MS Excel 2010 and SPSS, version 20.0. RESULTS: Of total 90 MCQs, the majority, that is, 74 (82%) MCQs had a good/acceptable level of difficulty with a mean DIF I of 55.32 ± 7.4 (mean ± SD), whereas seven (8%) were too difficult and nine (10%) were too easy. A total of 72 (80%) items had an excellent to acceptable DI and 18 (20%) had a poor DI with an overall mean DI of 0.31 ± 0.12. There was significant weak correlation between DIF I and DI (r = 0.140, p

In diesel engine applications, enormous importance was given to biodiesel in recent years due to its economical and ecological benefits. Even if, there is huge scope with biodiesel fuel for improving the performance and reducing the emission of a compression ignition (CI) engine. Though there are many techniques, for instance, engine modification and exhaust gas recirculation, fuel adulteration can play a key function to boost the performance of the engine and exhaust emission reduction. The nanoparticle (metallic and none metallic) additive is an obvious choice in the enhancement of physicochemical properties of biodiesel fuel. The nanoparticle has the properties concerning greater heat and mass transfer because of enhanced thermal conductivity, advanced heating value, high flash, and cloud points, the extra surface to volume ratio, higher combustion reactive medium, etc. Thus, the fuel properties can be altered based on the nanoparticle dosage. The objective of the present review is to know the influence of various nanoparticles in biodiesel–diesel blends on the improvement in performance and emission lessening of the compression ignition engine.

We explore the influence of the silica matrix on size, spinel phase stability, and magnetic properties of MnZn ferrite. For this purpose, Mn0.6Zn0.4Fe2O4 (MZF) nanoparticles (NPs) dispersed in silica (SiO2) matrix [MZF1−x/(SiO2)x x = 0, 10, 30%] synthesized by one-pot sol–gel process. The evolution of a pure spinel phase is apparent from the as-prepared (AP) MZF/SiO2 (30%) amorphous state on annealing in the temperature range 600–900 °C in air, whereas the AP free-standing MZF NPs exhibit a secondary phase of α-Fe2O3 along with spinel structure in this temperature range. The crystallite size is 5 ± 1 nm for a 600 °C annealed sample and increases to 10 ± 1 nm for a 900 °C annealed sample. From the detailed analysis of the temperature and magnetic field-dependent magnetization data, it is found that the AP sample exhibits weak magnetic behavior. However, annealed samples exhibit a maximum in zero-field-cooled magnetization at a certain temperature (TP), which increases with the increase of annealing temperature. The M–H curves above TP indicate the presence of superparamagnetic (SPM)-like behavior. From the present study, we show that the phase stability and magnetic properties of MZF/SiO2 composites have improved compared to bare MZF NPs.