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Within numerous IoT domains, recent IoT proliferation has influenced organizational activities and business procedures. The number of connected edge devices has increased dramatically, resulting in a vast stream of data that is prone to leakage and manipulation, decreasing the security level of the attacked IoT ecosystem. Anomaly detection systems based on graphs have been widely used to prevent network malfunction while considering the mergers of organizations involved, modeling their relationships, and integrating their structural features, content, and temporary features. We propose a multi-agent system that uses the collaborative environment of smart agents to find anomalies. Each agent implements a Graph-based Layered Learning-Driven (GLLD) network. To this end, we design an anomaly detection technique that attempts to efficiently monitor the entire network infrastructure to combat the spreading nature of cyber-attacks. BoT IoT dataset and Code Red worm attack dataset are used for training and testing various traffic distributions to demonstrate the outperformance of the model.

As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, which has put the world in an unprecedented predicament, thousands of people have died. Data from structured and unstructured sources are combined to create user-friendly platforms for clinicians and researchers in an integrated bioinformatics approach. The diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 disease can be accelerated using AI-based platforms. In the battle against the virus, however, researchers and decision-makers must contend with an ever-increasing volume of data, referred to as “big data.” VGG19 and ResNet152V2 pretrained deep learning architectures were used in this study. With these datasets, we could train and fine-tune our model on lung ultrasound frames from healthy people as well as from patients with COVID-19 and pneumonia. In two separate experiments, we evaluated two different classes of predictive models: one against pneumonia and the other against non-COVID-19. COVID-19 can be detected and diagnosed accurately and efficiently using these models, according to the findings. Therefore, the use of these inexpensive and affordable deep learning methods should be considered as a reliable method for the diagnosis of COVID-19.

The difficulty or cost of obtaining data or labels in applications like medical imaging has progressed less quickly. If deep learning techniques can be implemented reliably, automated workflows and more sophisticated analysis may be possible in previously unexplored areas of medical imaging. In addition, numerous characteristics of medical images, such as their high resolution, three-dimensional nature, and anatomical detail across multiple size scales, can increase the complexity of their analysis. This study employs multiconvolutional transfer learning (MCTL) for applying deep learning to small medical imaging datasets in an effort to address these issues. Multiconvolutional transfer learning is a model based on transfer learning that enables deep learning with small datasets. In order to learn new features on a smaller target dataset, an initial baseline is used in the transfer learning process. In this study, 3D MRI images of brain tumors are classified using a convolutional autoencoder method. In order to use unenhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for clinical diagnosis, expensive and invasive contrast-enhancing procedures must be performed. MCTL has been shown to increase accuracy by 1.5%, indicating that small targets are more easily detected with MCTL. This research can be applied to a wide range of medical imaging and diagnostic procedures, including improving the accuracy of brain tumor severity diagnosis through the use of MRI.

A large array of objects is networked together under the sophisticated concept known as the Internet of Things (IoT). These connected devices collect crucial information that could have a big impact on society, business, and the entire planet. In hostile settings like the internet, the IoT is particularly susceptible to multiple threats. Standard high-end security solutions are insufficient for safeguarding an IoT system due to the low processing power and storage capacity of IoT devices. This emphasizes the demand for scalable, distributed, and long-lasting smart security solutions. Deep learning excels at handling heterogeneous data of varying sizes. In this study, the transport layer of IoT networks is secured using a multilayered security approach based on deep learning. The created architecture uses the intrusion detection datasets from CIC-IDS-2018, BoT-IoT, and ToN-IoT to evaluate the suggested multi-layered approach. Finally, the new design outperformed the existing methods and obtained an accuracy of 98% based on the examined criteria.

To assess the effect of medical nutritional therapy (MNT) provided by dieticians on medical and clinical outcomes for adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.To compare effectiveness of MNT administered monthly to MNT administered once in 03 months.The study was conducted at the Department of Endocrinology in a tertiary care hospital. 98 men and women of the age group above 18 years were recruited in the study. 49 consenting individuals were randomly assigned to each of the 02 groups namely Group A and Group B. Group A consisted of 02 visits with dietician (including the initial visit) in the first month and thereafter every monthly. Group B consisted of initial visit with the dietician and there after every 03 monthly. An additional 49 adults with type 2 Diabetes mellitus at one site who had no facility for a contact with dietician were included as a comparison group.Medical outcome measures including fasting plasma glucose (FPG), glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and serum lipid levels were compared and analysed. Clinical outcomes included Body weight, Height and Body mass index (BMI).Data was collected at the entry to the study and at 03 and 06 months interval.In our study, the baseline fasting plasma glucose (FPG), HbA1C, total cholesterol and BMI was more or less similar in all 3 groups. There was a sustained decrease in all the four parameters in Group A which received the maximum nutritional therapy over a period of 06 months (A mean decrease of FPG 15.2 mg/dL, HbA1C 0.59%, total cholesterol 19.6 mg/dL, BMI 0.5 kg/m2 from baseline at 03 months and a mean decrease of FPG 33.4 mg/dL, HbA1C 1.24%, total cholesterol 40.8 mg/dL, BMI 1.1 kg/m2 from baseline at 06 months was seen). However, in Group B which received intermitted nutritional therapy, the decrease in these parameters were observed initially but over a period of 06 months, they increased to more or less near the baseline value months (A mean decrease of FPG 12.9 mg/dL, HbA1C 0.73%, total cholesterol 16.1 mg/dL, BMI 0.5 kg/m2 from baseline at 03 months but a mean increase of FPG 3.2 mg/dL and a mean decrease of HbA1C 0.24%, total cholesterol of 4.3 mg/dL and BMI 0.15 kg/m2 from baseline at 06 months was seen). In Group C which had no means of access to nutritional therapy, there was a subtle decrease in FPG and gradual increase in HbA1C, total cholesterol and BMI at 03 months but all four parameters increased significantly higher than the baseline value at the end of 06 months months (A mean decrease of FPG 6.2 mg/dL and mean increase of HbA1C 0.31%, total cholesterol 16.0 mg/dL, BMI 0.3 kg/m2 from baseline at 03 months and a mean increase of FPG 5.9 mg/dL, HbA1C 0.73%, total cholesterol 31.1 mg/dL, BMI 0.81 kg/m2 from baseline at 06 months was seen).Our study has clearly indicated that medical nutritional therapy is of great importance in the holistic management of Type 2 Diabetes mellitus in adults. MNT has got the advantage of not only maintaining a strict glycemic control (in terms of FPG and HbA1C reduction) but also in the lowering of cholesterol and BMI which are the main contributors to cardiovascular (CVD) events among people with type 2 Diabetes mellitus. Also, people who were given frequent MNT had a clear advantage over those who received intermittent MNT in terms of all the measured parameters.

The varied spectrum of presentation of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is intriguing. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a well described and documented condition that is associated with the active or recent COVID-19 infection. A similar presentation in adults is termed as Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in Adults (MIS-A). With only very limited cases reported from the west, MIS-A is considered a rare and serious complication of COVID-19. However, it is not as uncommon as we think. Many cases go undiagnosed for lack of COVID -19 like symptoms and unawareness among treating clinicians about this newer clinical entity. Further, antibody testing and inflammatory markers are not easily available in many of the Indian hospitals especially in rural India where the second wave had been intense, thereby making it difficult for the diagnosis of MIS-A. Also, there is no clear treatment guideline for MIS-A unlike MIS-C where the treatment protocol is well laid out. Awareness about MIS-A among treating clinicians can thus help in further evaluation and increased identification of the syndrome at the early stages thereby helping in the early institution of treatment. Our tertiary COVID care hospital in South India which has handled about 5200 cases of COVID-19 is been able to identify 04 cases of MIS-A proving that this clinical entity is not as rare as it is thought but lacks reporting and prompt identification. Here we describe 04 cases of MIS-A and strive to bring in the various aspects of it, including the clinical presentation, laboratory markers, diagnostic criteria and treatment considerations in this post second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

Ganoderma lucidum is an important medicinal mushroom widely used in pharmaceuticals for their antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer and immunoregulatory properties and also used in agriculture as an antiviral and antibacterial agent. Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy is a tool widely used in the researches for the identification of organic compounds in the organism. In our study, we used FT-IR Spectroscopy for determination the chemical nature of Ganoderma lucidum, and their standards Squalene and Ganoderic acid A. In the FT-IR spectrum for the G. lucidum obtained in the region of 3782.69 cm-1 to 568.898 cm-1 the absorptions peak represents the alcohols, halogens, silicon and phosphorus groups present in the sample. In the squalene standard, ketones, amides, and guanidine, nitrile and azine stretches were found in the wavelength 1655-1550 cm-1. In the Ganoderic acid A sulfur compounds with weak stretching intensity were obtained in the wavelength 500-400 cm-1. We have concluded that FT-IR spectroscopy is an effective method to analyze the chemical nature of the organic groups present in the samples.

Microwave radar absorbers are widely used in the strategic sector and wireless communication systems to reduce the radar cross-section of a target and electromagnetic interferences, respectively. For airborne stealth platforms, it is desired to have wide bandwidth RAS with minimum thickness and adequate structural rigidity. However, the classical RAS structures are thicker with a narrowband of absorption. So the demand of thin and broadband absorber for a modern stealth platform can be accomplished by designing metallic or resistive frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) based radar absorbing structures (RAS). In view of this, a technological assessment on frequency selective surface (FSS)-based radar absorbing structure are presented in this paper, which includes historical review on radar absorber development, design techniques, physical models, and optimization techniques. Ultra-wideband absorbers with essentially thin structures can be realized by optimizing FSS and dielectric parameters. The genetic algorithm (GA) is identified as one of the effective searching algorithms among several numerical algorithms, which are discussed in detail for single and multi-layered FSS–RAS. The fabrication techniques of resistive FSS by printing the periodic pattern using resistivity-controlled ink is also addressed. For proof-of-the concept, a prototype of cross-dipole FSS based RAS is fabricated and measured.

Bud blight disease caused by groundnut bud necrosis virus (GBNV) is a serious constraint in the cultivation of agricultural crops such as legumes, tomato, chilies, potato, cotton etc. Owing to the significant damage caused by GBNV, an attempt was made to identify suitable organic antiviral agents through molecular modelling of the nucleocapsid Coat Protein of GBNV; molecular docking and molecular dynamics that disclosed the interaction of the ligands viz., Squalene and Ganoderic acid-A with coat protein of GBNV. In vitro inhibitory effect of Squalene and Ganoderic acid-A was examined in comparison with different concentrations, against GBNV in cowpea plants under glasshouse condition. The different concentrations of Squalene (50, 100, 150, 250 and 500 ppm) tested in vitro resulted in reduction of lesion numbers (1.69 cm2) as well as reduced virus titre in co-inoculation spray. The present study suggests the antiviral activity of Squalene by effectively fitting into binding site of coat protein of GBNV with favourable hydrophilic as well as strong hydrophobic interactions thereby challenging and blocking the binding of viral replication RNA with coat protein and propagation. The present organic antiviral molecules will be helpful in development of suitable eco-friendly formulations to mitigate GBNV infection disease in plants.

Chest auscultation is a non-invasive and widely used tool for the detection of pulmonary disease. Though it is a powerful method of pulmonary function test, it relics challenges in different issues that bound its diagnostic ability. Mainly in motion artifacts, other environmental noise, and heart sound interference, hence contaminates the original content of the lung sound. This study proposes an adaptive threshold Empirical Mode Decomposition (aEMD) technique to denoise the lung sound signals thus improving the signal quality for the detection of respiratory pathologies. The proposed scheme is refined to offset maximum noise suppression against preserving the reliability of the lung sound signal. With this algorithm, the maximum Signal to Noise ratio (SNR) of 43.89 dB, Correlation Coefficient of 0.995, and minimum Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.00122 is achieved. Further, it can be implemented in real-time to assist medical experts doctors to make clear interpretations of the respiratory sound-related disorder.

The attendance of employees was recently seen as one of the most important elements or issues in paying salaries. Various automatic identification technologies such as radio frequency identification have been more popular (RFID). A wide range of research and other applications have been produced to maximize this technology and express certain concerns. RFID is a wireless equipment that uses data move from an electronic tag, identify as RFID tag, or label for sending data to RFID reader, for the rationale of classify and pathway objects via radio waves. In addition to the programmable logic circuit, such as Arduino, the current study aims at recommending an RFID based Attendance Management System (AMS), as well as a system of information services on academic domains. The system proposed is aimed at managing the attendance system of employees with RFID tags/stickers to communicate with an Arduino UNO connecting RFID Reader/Writer module. The Arduino UNO receives authentication data, which is then sent through an Ethernet module, to Google Spreadsheets in order to store and access data in real time. The attendance system is therefore non-paper and organized because of the timestamp, the card key and the columns on the API table.

A simple vehicle-2-vehicle (V2V) charging system provided electric vehicles with a versatile and fast power sharing method without the use of battery packs. Some of the key technical problems in cooperative V2V charging include successful charging navigation structure designs with lower processing demands and high computational, decision-making expertise for the selection of halting locations to operate V2V charging facilities, and the necessary matching problem between charging and discharging electric vehicles. To address the aforementioned issues, we suggest a smart V2V charging course-plotting approach for growing integer of distributed electric vehicles. Specifically, a networking model focused on hybrid based vehicular ad-hoc networks guarantees effective message and efficient charging coordination. The functionality and efficacy of the proposed concept on V2V charging course-plotting strategy was demonstrated through a series of simulated data with respect to packet delivery ratio and offloading time.

Computer Aided Detection plays a crucial role in the early detection of deadly diseases such as cancer (or) tumor. Pathology and radiology images form the core of tumor diagnosis. Pathology images provide clinical information about the tissues whereas the radiology images can be used for locating the lesions. This work aims at proposing a classification model which categorizes the tumor as oligodendroglioma (benign tumors) (or) astrocytoma (Malignant tumors) using features of both the radiology and pathology images. Dataset from MICCAI Computational Precision Medicine Challenge is used for model building. The proposed model uses dedicated workflows for processing the pathology and radiology images. The feature descriptors of the images are obtained using pre-trained Inception v3 model. The resulting vectors are then used as input to the linear SVM (Support Vector Machine) classification model. The SVM model provided an accuracy of 75% on the blind folded test dataset provided in the competition.

Internet of things (IoT) is an emerging technology which can interconnect low-cost and on-demand processing resources and enabling them for transmission. They are becoming viable solutions to many challenging problems such as in environmental monitoring, business, and military applications. However, deploying without security in mind has often proved to be unreasonably dangerous. This also applies to wireless sensor network (WSN) that monitor sensitive information. The development of WSN consists of sensors to monitor IoT devices. Even the IoT technology offers a variety of services, security issues concern with devices and customers is a major problem. To handle such sensitive situations and to ensure proper data security, wireless sensor network come up with the extensive use of various methods that can bring unique security concern for customers and also provide methods to prevent various possible security attacks. For this paper, huge potential efforts are made to analyze various data security methods of IoT technology in wireless sensor networks by providing as much information possible and quantifying what the tradeoffs will be.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on hemodialysis (HD) among whom it is 5–20 times higher than in the general population. Some of the nontraditional risk factors such as oxidative stress and inflammation are related to the progress of CVD in HD patients. Several, but not all studies, reported that inflammatory and oxidative stress markers are increased during a single session of HD, mimicking changes that occur during acute immune activation. This study was taken up to evaluate the changes in the inflammatory and oxidative stress markers during a single HD session in patients with chronic kidney disease. Methods: Twenty-five ESRD patients on maintenance HD and 25 controls were included in the study. Blood samples were obtained from the patients before starting of hemodialysis (pre-HD) and after completion of hemodialysis (post-HD). The changes in serum Pentraxin-3, hs-CRP, malondialdehyde (MDA) and ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) levels were measured in pre- and post-HD ESRD patients and compared with healthy control group. Results: This study found increased levels of Pentraxin-3, hs-CRP, MDA, and decreased level of FRAP in HD patients compared to controls. Conclusions: Hemodialysis procedure contributes to inflammation and oxidative stress.

Chayote (Sechium edule (Jacq. Sw.) is a single seeded cucurbitaceous vegetable crop mainly grown for its fruit. During 2015–2016, mosaic and leaf distortion type of symptoms were observed in chayote plants in hilly regions of Tamil Nadu. The disease incidence was 50. 3–100% and yield loss was about 69.9% in Dindigul district. The infected chayote plants showed yellow spots, yellow mosaic, leaf curling, puckering, and enations. The fruits of infected plants were malformed and were not marketable. The begomovirus causing the disease was identified as a variant of tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus. The chayote isolates of ToLCNDV share only 91 to 92% identity with other ToLCNDV isolates, deserving to be designated as distinct strain. The phylogenetic analysis on the basis of DNA A component nucleotides clearly indicated common origin of chayote, ridge gourd, ash gourd isolates of India along with Spanish isolates of ToLCNDV. This was contrasting to diverse origin of ToLCNDV isolates from other countries. The virus was sap transmissible to selected cucurbitaceous hosts. The whitefly population (Asia-I) reared in the glass house transmitted the virus to bottle gourd with 4 h of acquisition access period (AAP) and 24 h of inoculation feeding period (IFP). Heavy infestation of greenhouse whiteflies, Trialeurodes vaporariorum on infected chayote plant in Kodaikanal paved way to investigations on its role in vector transmission of ToLCNDV. The field population of T. vaporariorum was found to be viruliferous in PCR using virus specific primers. The greenhouse whitefly efficiently transmitted the virus with 4 h of AAP and 24 h IFP. Seed-borne nature of ToLCNDV was confirmed in PCR by using Roja’s and ToLCNDV specific primers in different parts of the fruit viz., pericarp, mesocarp, seed coat, endosperm and embryo. This is the first report of seed transmissible nature of ToLCNDV, its implication in transboundary movement of the virus across several countries is discussed.

A novel metamaterial (MTM) element for radome applications is presented in this paper, which shows negative permittivity and permeability characteristics at distinct frequency ranges. The MTM element is composed of tightly coupled Swastika-shaped conductors printed on both sides of the dielectric substrate. The electromagnetic (EM) analysis of the proposed structure is carried out using the full-wave method-based standard software package and then validated with the experimental results. The MTM structure is further modified by introducing shorting strips at its edges to improve bandpass FSS response with flat-top and sharp roll-off characteristics in microwave and millimeter-wave frequency regimes. In view of airborne radome application of MTM-FSS structure, a multilayered hemispherical radome is designed by embedding it in the mid-plane of the radome wall. The EM performance of the antenna–radome system is analyzed using 3-D ray tracing geometrical optics in conjunction with aperture integration method, incorporating the transmission characteristics of MTM-FSS-based radome wall using CST Microwave Studio. The MTM-FSS-based radome exhibits superior EM performance characteristics as compared to the conventional optimized monolithic radome over the frequency range of 8.5–10.3 GHz, with high transmission efficiency (~0.30) and minimal boresight error (~4 mrad) for the entire beam steering range.

The cephalic vein is formed over the "anatomical snuff box" and joins the axillary vein just below the clavicular level. The definition of cephalic arch is varied. In the radiology literature, it is defined as the central perpendicular portion of the cephalic vein as it traverses the deltopectoral groove and joins the axillary vein. The possible etiologies of cephalic arch stenosis are numerous. This study aimed to identify patients with cephalic arch stenosis and to discern the domain site of stenosis. This is a retrospective case series of patients who had an arteriovenous fistula with dysfunction of access and ipsilateral upper-limb edema. The clinical features of the access dysfunction were strong pulse due to increased pressure, weak thrill due to poor proximal flow, high static pressure, or decreased dialysis efficiency. All these 25 patients underwent computed tomography (CT) angiogram. The CT angiographic findings revealed cephalic arch stenosis and stenosis in 13 patients (52%). domain IV was slightly more affected than other domains of cephalic arch.

One of the important aims of drug discovery for cancer is to find therapeutic agents from natural products that are effective and safe for cancer treatment. In the current study, an alkaloid, 2-acetyl-benzylamine, isolated from Adhatoda vasica, was screened for potent anticancer properties against leukemia cells. We used seven different types of leukemia cells such as CEM, NB-4, MOLM-14, Jurkat, IM-9, K562 and HL-60 for cytotoxic studies. 2-acetyl-benzylamine showed significant cytotoxic properties against MOLM-14 and NB-4 cells with IC50 values of 0.40 and 0.39mM at 24h when compared to other tested cells, respectively. Apoptosis was confirmed by annexin V-FITC/PI kit using flow cytometry and confocal microscope in MOLM-14 and NB-4 cells. In addition, 2-acetyl-benzylamine induced cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase in MOLM-14 cells and G0/G1 phase in NB-4 cells. Apoptosis mechanism was confirmed by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Treatment with 2-acetyl-benzylamine decreased the Bcl-2 activity and increased the Bax expression; cytochrome c was released and caspases-3 was activated in MOLM-14 and NB-4 cells. Besides, 2-acetyl-benzylamine inhibited the expression of JAK2/STAT3 in MOLM-14 and NB-4 cells. In vivo administration of 2-acetyl-benzylamine inhibited the growth of MOLM-14 cells in xenograft mice model. Molecular docking study has been performed to investigate the binding mode and to estimate the binding energy of 2-acetyl-benzylamine with the active site of JAK-2, AKT1, FLT3 and Bcl-2. The above findings proved that 2-acetyl-benzylamine could be developed as a potential therapeutic agent against cancer.

Tomato is an important vegetable crop which is severely affected by Groundnut bud necrosis virus (GBNV). Until now effective antiviral agents have not been reported for the management of necrosis disease caused by GBNV. Therefore, a study was undertaken to manage the necrosis disease caused by GBNV using culture filtrate of basidiomycetous fungi viz., Coprinopsis cinerea, Ganoderma lucidum and Lentinula edodes. In vitro studies were conducted in the indicator host cowpea and primary host tomato in glasshouse under insect proof condition; co-inoculation spraying of culture filtrate of Ganoderma lucidum at 0.1% concentration reduced the lesion numbers and inhibited the virus population build-up when compared to inoculated control in the indicator host cowpea upto 77.83%. DAC-ELISA test was performed to quantify the virus titre, indicated reduced virus titre in co- inoculation spray of culture filtrate of G. lucidum treated cowpea with OD value 0.17 ± 0.01 at 405 nm and in tomato plants 0.14 ± 0.01 respectively. The viral copy numbers were quantified by qPCR. About 2.0 × 101 viral copy numbers were observed in tomato plants treated with G. lucidum (co-inoculation) which was lesser than untreated inoculated control plants (2.4 × 108). In order to identify the antiviral properties of G. lucidum, GCMS analysis was carried out and we found the triterpenoid compound Squalene. This is the first study to analyse and confirm the antiviral activity of G. lucidum against a plant virus.

Flash pulmonary edema (FPE) is a rare clinical presentation of renal artery stenosis. It is an episode of abrupt onset pulmonary edema that resolves rapidly. It occurs in patients with bilateral renal artery stenosis or unilateral renal artery stenosis with a solitary functioning kidney. We report a patient of diabetic end-stage renal disease on maintenance hemodialysis who manifested FPE on a few occasions which responded to renal revascularization. The indications of renal revascularization have been narrowed to poor blood pressure control, when progressive loss of renal function is encountered, or when circulatory congestion is a prominent feature.

Digital pathology is a technology that allows pathological information created from a digital slide to be accessed, handled, and interpreted. Using optical pathology scanners, glass slides are collected and transformed to digitized glass slides that can be viewed on your computer monitor. Relevant support for education and the practice of human anatomy is offered by digital pathology. With the recent developments in digital pathology led to computer-aided diagnosis using machine learning approaches. So, machine learning frameworks assist physicians in diagnosing critical cases such as cancer, tumors, etc and improve patient management. With an ever growing number of choices, it can be hard to pick a better machine learning method for pathological data. Big potential attempts are made in this paper to research the full context of digital pathology with the specifics of how artificial intelligence has contributed to digital pathology. This review also analyzes various machine learning frameworks by providing as much information as possible and quantifying what the tradeoffs will be. This paper ultimately provides the improvements in the frameworks available that will be required in the near future applications.

This research work aims at investigating the structural properties of hybrid fiber reinforced geopolymer concrete specimens such as load-deflection behaviour, stiffness, ductility, toughness index. In this research work, effort has been made towards reducing the brittleness of geopolymer concrete by the addition of glass (high modulus) and polypropylene (low modulus) fibers inside GGBS based geopolymer concrete made of M-sand. The glass and polypropylene fibers were added in various proportions such as 1/0, 0.75/0.25, 0.5/0.5, 0.25/0.75,0/1. The research work recorded enhancement of structural properties of geopolymer concrete under ambient curing. This work paved way for the utilization of fibers inside geopolymer concrete and replace cement concrete in all facets.

Groundwater contributes about 30% of the world's total freshwater. In Madurai, the main source for drinking and other activities mostly depend on groundwater because the surface water is very minimum and the river water also available only during the monsoon season. The main aim of the work is to study the impact of the groundwater quality around the Madurai city by water quality index (WQI) and geospatial techniques. Twenty groundwater samples were collected from bore wells and analysed to study the groundwater quality in the study area. Water quality analyses of the same samples were carried out for pH, TH, Ca2+, Cl− and Mg2+. The analyses results of twenty observation wells were used in the preparation of the water quality parameter map. ArcGIS 9.3 software was used to create the water quality map by using the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation technique. From this study, the whole area is classified as excellent, good, poor, very poor and water unsuitable for drinking. Thus, uninterrupted monitoring of groundwater is necessary to control the groundwater contamination.

The present study was undertaken to investigate the anticancer activity of methyl caffeate isolated from Solanum torvum Swartz. fruit and to explore the molecular mechanisms of action in MCF-7 cells. Cytotoxic properties of hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts were carried out against MCF-7 cells using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay. Ethyl acetate extract showed good cytototoxic activities compared to hexane and methanol extracts. Methyl caffeate was isolated from the ethyl acetate extract using column chromatography. Cytotoxic properties of methyl caffeate was investigated against MCF-7, A549, COLO320, HepG-2 and Vero cells. The compound showed potent cytotoxic properties against MCF-7 cells compared to A549, COLO320 and HepG-2 cells. Methyl caffeate significantly reduced cell proliferation and increased formation of fragmented DNA and apoptotic body in MCF-7 cells. Bcl-2, Bax, Bid, p53, caspase-3, PARP and cytochrome c release were detected by western blot analysis. The activities of caspases-3 and PARP gradually increased after the addition of isolated compound. Bcl-2 protein was down regulated; Bid and Bax were up regulated after the treatment with methyl caffeate. Molecular docking studies showed that the compound bound stably to the active sites of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP1), B cell CLL/lymphoma-2 (BCL-2), E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase (MDM2) and tubulin. The results strongly suggested that methyl caffeate induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells via caspase activation through cytochrome c release from mitochondria.

The literature, particularly from India, is scarce on the renal effects of glyphosate poisoning. Glyphosate causes toxicity not only after its ingestion but also after dermal exposure by inhalation route and on eye exposure. We present a patient report of glyphosate consumption which resulted in toxic epidermal necrolysis – the first report after glyphosate consumption and acute kidney injury.

Scrub typhus, or tsutsugamushi fever, is a zoonosis of rural Asia and the western Pacific islands. The causative organism, Orientia (formerly Rickettsia) tsutsugamushi, is transmitted to humans by the bite of a larval Leptotrombidium mite (chigger). Scrub typhus may have gastrointestinal presentations, such as acute acalculous cholecystitis, duodenal ulcer perforation, peritonitis and gastric ulceration. Acute pancreatitis with scrub typhus has been reported rarely. We report a patient of scrub typhus complicated by acute pancreatitis and acute kidney injury.

The design of a Swasthika shaped metasurface based low profile frequency reconfigurable antenna is proposed for the wireless system and satellite applications employed in unmanned air vehicles (UAV). In this work, an attempt is made to reconfigure the frequency of a microstrip patch antenna in a smart technique way. The design consists of a microstrip patch antenna based Swasthika shaped metasurface. The metasurface is placed over a microstrip patch antenna and rotated along z-axis to tune its resonant frequency. The analyzed metasurface acts as epsilon negative (ENG) metasurface property at designed frequency of 10 GHz. The inclusion of metasurface over the microstrip patch antenna results in enhancement in the gain from 5.542 dB to 7.5 dB. Moreover, the resonance frequency of proposed antenna is tuned from 4.48 GHz to 4.603 GHz by rotating the metasurface (from 0° to 80°). The antenna parameters like return loss, gain, VSWR, and radiation pattern are studied and analyzed using full-wave method.

Active power filters are the most efficient tool to reduce harmonics produced by the power electronic converter used in integration of renewable energy resources with grid. In this work, a control method for active power filter was designed for grid connected photovoltaic system. The shunt active filter (SAF) topology consists of five level cascaded multilevel inverter with fuzzy PI controller to regulate the dc side voltage. Synchronous reference frame theory is tailored for the computation of SAF reference current. Constant switching frequency sub-harmonic pulse width modulation (CSFSHPWM) was implemented to generate switching pulses to voltage source inverter. This approach not only accomplishes the compensation of harmonics, but also transfers the active power at unity power factor to the grid. It can be also used to fuse the power generated by the renewable energy source in the grid and function as SAF. This system eradicates the supplementary equipment required to improve the power quality. The control system operation was simulated using the MATLAB/Simulink power system toolbox and experimental results are furnished to verify the efficiency of this method.

The aim of this study was to investigate the anticancer activity of a flavonoid type of compound isolated from soil derived filamentous bacterium Streptomyces sp. (ERINLG-4) and to explore the molecular mechanisms of action. Cytotoxic properties of ethyl acetate extract was carried out against A549 lung cancer cell line using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Cytotoxic properties of isolated compound were investigated in A549 lung cancer cell line, COLO320DM cancer cell line and Vero cells. The compound showed potent cytotoxic properties against A549 lung cancer cell line and moderate cytotoxic properties against COLO320DM cancer cell line. Isolated compound showed no toxicity up to 2000 μg/mL in Vero cells. So we have chosen the A549 lung cancer cell line for further anticancer studies. Intracellular visualization was done by using a laser scanning confocal microscope. Apoptosis was measured using DNA fragmentation technique. Treatment of the A549 cancer cells with isolated compound significantly reduced cell proliferation, increased formation of fragmented DNA and apoptotic body. Activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 indicated that compound may be inducing intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis pathways. Bcl-2, p53, pro-caspases, caspase-3, caspase-9 and cytochrome c release were detected by western blotting analysis after compound treatment (123 and 164 μM). The activities of pro-caspases-3, caspase-9 cleaved to caspase-3 and caspase-9 gradually increased after the addition of isolated compound. But Bcl-2 protein was down regulated after treatment with isolated compound. Molecular docking studies showed that the compound bound stably to the active sites of caspase-3 and caspase-9. These results strongly suggest that the isolated compound induces apoptosis in A549 cancer cells via caspase activation through cytochrome c release from mitochondria. The present results might provide helpful suggestions for the design of antitumor drugs toward lung cancer treatment.

In general, in peritoneal dialysis (PD) practice in hospitals, Twardowski and Prowant's exit-site classification system is used, while the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis (ISPD) exit-site scoring system is practical to use in community visits with less experienced healthcare personnel. Nevertheless, when exit-site scoring is 3 points under the ISPD exit-site score system and it falls in the category of equivocal under the Twardowski and Prowant's exit-site classification, the physician should be vigilant about the possibility of developing peritonitis, and hence, patients need to be kept under periodic monitoring.