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The current research work scrutinizes aluminium alloy 6101-graphite composites for their mechanical and tribological behaviour in dry sliding environments. The orthodox liquid casting technique had been used for the manufacturing of composite materials and imperilled to T6 heat treatment. The content of reinforcement particles was taken as 0, 4, 8, 12 and 16 wt.% of graphite to ascertain it is prospective as self-lubricating reinforcement in sliding wear environments. Hardness, tensile strength and flexural strength of cast Al6101 metal matrix and manufactured composites were evaluated. Hardness, tensile strength and flexural strength decreases with increasing volume fraction of graphite reinforcement as compared to cast Al6101 metal matrix. Wear tests were performed on pin on disc apparatus to assess the tribological behaviour of composites and to determine the optimum volume fraction of graphite for its minimum wear rate. Wear rate reduces with increase in graphite volume fraction and minimum wear rate was attained at 4 wt.% graphite. The wear was found to decrease with increase in sliding distance. The average co-efficient of friction also reduces with graphite addition and its minimum value was found to be at 4 wt.% graphite. The worn surfaces of wear specimens were studied through scanning electron microscopy. The occurrence of 4 wt.% of graphite reinforcement in the composites can reveal loftier wear possessions as compared to cast Al6101 metal matrix.

Food-based components represent major sources of functional bioactive compounds. Milk is a rich source of multiple bioactive peptides that not only help to fulfill consumers ‘nutritional requirements but also play a significant role in preventing several health disorders. Understanding the chemical composition of milk and its products is critical for producing consistent and high-quality dairy products and functional dairy ingredients. Over the last two decades, peptides have gained significant attention by scientific evidence for its beneficial health impacts besides their established nutrient value. Increasing awareness of essential milk proteins has facilitated the development of novel milk protein products that are progressively required for nutritional benefits. The need to better understand the beneficial effects of milk-protein derived peptides has, therefore, led to the development of analytical approaches for the isolation, separation and identification of bioactive peptides in complex dairy products. Continuous emphasis is on the biological function and nutritional characteristics of milk constituents using several powerful techniques, namely omics, model cell lines, gut microbiome analysis and imaging techniques. This review briefly describes the state-of-the-art approach of peptidomics and lipidomics profiling approaches for the identification and detection of milk-derived bioactive peptides while taking into account recent progress in their analysis and emphasizing the difficulty of analysis of these functional and endogenous peptides.

Micromilling is one of the preferable micro-manufacturing process, as it exhibits the flexibility to produce complex 3D micro-parts. The cutting forces generated in micro end milling can be attributed for tool vibration and process instability. If cutting forces are not controlled below critical limits, it may lead to catastrophic failure of tool. Cutting force has a significant role to decide the surface roughness. Therefore accurate prediction of cutting forces and selection of suitable cutting parameters mainly feed, is important while micro end milling. In present study, finite element method (FEM) based model has been developed by using ABAQUAS/Explicit 6.12 software. Von-Misses stresses and cutting forces are predicted while micro end milling of Ti-6Al-4V. Further, cutting forces were measured during experimentation using dynamometer mounted on micro-milling test bed. Cutting forces predicted by FEM model are in good agreement with the experimental force values. Obtained FEM results have been used to study the size effect in micro end milling process. Moreover, the effect of uncut chip thickness to cutting edge radius ratio (h/rc) on surface roughness (Ra) has been studied. It is found the feed 2.5 µm/tooth is suitable value to produce optimum surface roughness and cutting forces.

Genetic risk modeling for dementia offers significant benefits, but studies based on real-world data, particularly for underrepresented populations, are limited. We employ an Elastic Net model for dementia risk prediction using single-nucleotide polymorphisms prioritized by functional genomic data from multiple neurodegenerative disease genome-wide association studies. We compare this model with APOE and polygenic risk score models across genetic ancestry groups (Hispanic Latino American sample: 610 patients with 126 cases; African American sample: 440 patients with 84 cases; East Asian American sample: 673 patients with 75 cases), using electronic health records from UCLA Health for discovery and the All of Us cohort for validation. Our model significantly outperforms other models across multiple ancestries, improving the area-under-precision-recall curve by 31-84% (Wilcoxon signed-rank test p-value

The effect of graphite particles on the dry sliding wear behaviour of Al6082 alloy composites produced by conventional stir casting method has been investigated. The percentage of reinforcement was varied from 0% to 12% in a step of 3. The result showed that with the addition of graphite particles micro- and macro-hardness reduced by 11.11% and 10.44%, respectively. The tribological behaviour of composites was investigated by pin on disc apparatus. Percentage reinforcement, load, sliding speed and sliding distance were taken as the process variable. Response surface methodology has been used to plan and analyze the experiment. Results showed that sliding distance is the most influential factor and load is the factor which affects the wear least.

Bilateral optic disc edema in a diabetic patient may be caused by diabetic papillopathy. We herein report on a patient with bilateral optic disc drusen simulating diabetic papillopathy. A 55-year-old patient with type 2 diabetes presented with decreased vision of 1-month. Diabetic papillopathy was initially considered as there was disc edema in both eyes with focal hemorrhages at the disc margin and mild visual loss. Ultrasound of the optic nerve head revealed optic disc drusen in both eyes and this was also confirmed by the control photograph. Optic nerve head drusen should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a diabetic patient presenting with disc edema.

Background Cold air inhalation during exercise increases cardiac mortality, but the pathophysiology is unclear. During cold and exercise, dual‐sensor intracoronary wires measured coronary microvascular resistance (MVR) and blood flow velocity (CBF), and cardiac magnetic resonance measured subendocardial perfusion. Methods and Results Forty‐two patients (62±9 years) undergoing cardiac catheterization, 32 with obstructive coronary stenoses and 10 without, performed either (1) 5 minutes of cold air inhalation (5°F) or (2) two 5‐minute supine‐cycling periods: 1 at room temperature and 1 during cold air inhalation (5°F) (randomized order). We compared rest and peak stress MVR, CBF, and subendocardial perfusion measurements. In patients with unobstructed coronary arteries (n=10), cold air inhalation at rest decreased MVR by 6% (P=0.41), increasing CBF by 20% (P

This work focuses on the effect of graphite particles addition on the microstructure of Al6082 metal matrix composites manufactured by conventional stir casting process. The reinforcement content was varied from 0% to 12% in a step of 3%. The microstructures of the manufactured composites were analyzed by scanning electron micrographic test. Elemental mapping of the Al6082 + 12% Gr reinforced composite was carried out to see the different elements present with their amount. Different elements present in the manufactured composites were verified by X-ray diffraction technique to justify the elemental map analysis. The result of this microstructural investigation revealed that a non-uniform distribution of graphite particles takes place at all weight percentages of graphite reinforcement.

The present research work focuses on the production of aluminium (AA6082-T6) matrix composites reinforced with various weight percentage of silicon nitride particles by conventional stir casting route. The percentage of reinforcement is varied from 0 wt.% to 12 wt.% in a stage of 3%. The microstructures and mechanical properties of the fabricated aluminium matrix composites are investigated. The scanning electron microstructure images reveal the presence of Si3N4 particles in the aluminium matrix. The distribution of Si3N4 particles has also been recognized with X-ray diffraction technique. The mechanical properties such as ultimate tensile strength and hardness have improved at the cost of reduction in ductility with increase in weight percentage of silicon nitride particulates in the aluminium metal matrix. The density and porosity of the composites also show an increasing trend with increase in volume fraction of Si3N4 particles in the aluminium matrix.

The purpose of the study was to compare the body composition and physical fitness between male judo-kas and karate-kas. The subjects were selected from the male Judokas and Karatekas of different colleges and training centers, who had participated last 2 years at Punjab state level competitions for this study. Ten (10) male Judokas and Karatekas from three different weight categories namely light weight, middle weight and heavy weight were selected as the subject for the study. Selected body composition such as Standing Height, Weight, HumerusBiepicondylar, Wrist Diameter, Femur Biepicondylar, Ankle Diameter, Upper arm Circumference, Forearm Circumference, Thigh Circumference, Calf Circumference, Bicep Skinfold, Forearm Skinfold, Suprailiac Skinfold, Subscapular Skinfold, Thigh Skinfold, Calf Skinfold and Physical fitness variables such as 50 meter Dash, Shuttle Run, Shot Put, 600 yards Run or Walk and Bend and Reach Test were presented to compare the male Judokas and Karatekas from three different weight categories namely light weight, middle weight and heavy weight. To see the significant difference of selected body composition and physical fitness variables among the male Judokas and Karatekas from three different weight categories namely light weight, middle weight and heavy weight, the analysis of “mean, standard deviation and t test” was applied at .05 level of significance. The judokas are found to be taller and having greater diameters and circumferences and leaner in all skinfolds except suprailiac skinfold. The karatekas found to be heavier and having greater upper arm and forearm circumferences and leaner in suprailiac skinfold than judokas. However, the Judokas have greater bone mass, muscle mass and less fat percentage than Karatekas. Further Judokas have more speed, coordinative ability and endurance than Karatekas.

Scientists across the world extensively working on various concepts of extraterrestrial life and life on earth, many astrobiological investigations are on to completely decipher the correlation of astrobiology and biology. Extremophiles are the best suited model organisms due to their unique characteristics of thriving in extreme conditions i.e. temperature, salt conditions, polar niches, extremely toxic environments, organic solvents, heavy metals, radiation areas and many more other habitats those have been considered as unreceptive for life and life forms for a long. The metabolomics and genomics of these unique organisms in the modern age of advance molecular biology with next generation sequencing (NGS) has come up with promising results opening new vistas of basic, applied and industrial research globally. The International Society for Extremophiles (ISE) is a community of scientists dedicating their research on these unique microbes worldwide to understand the complexities of extremophiles. During last two decades the extremophilic research has got the momentum all over the world, especially amongst the thermal biologists, astrobiologists, space scientists and enzyme industries.

V4 hypervariable region of 16S rDNA was analyzed for identifying the bacterial communities present in Bat Guano from the unexplored cave — Pnahkyndeng, Meghalaya, Northeast India. Metagenome comprised of 585,434 raw Illumina sequences with a 59.59% G+C content. A total of 416,490 preprocessed reads were clustered into 1282 OTUs (operational taxonomical units) comprising of 18 bacterial phyla. The taxonomic profile showed that the guano bacterial community is dominated by Chloroflexi, Actinobacteria and Crenarchaeota which account for 70.73% of all sequence reads and 43.83% of all OTUs. Metagenome sequence data are available at NCBI under the accession no. SRP051094. This study is the first to characterize Bat Guano bacterial community using next-generation sequencing approach.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of ashwagandha (Withania Somnifera) consumption on the selected physical fitness variables of male sprinters. The total number of 20 male sprinters which equally divided 10 in each group i.e. experimental and control groups. The sample was belong to, who had participated at inter college level under Lakshmibai National Institute of physical education, North east regional center in the age group of 18 to 25 years. Ashwagandha medicine gives to 10 experimental groups for 12 week thrice a week of alternate days with milk. After the 12 weeks physical fitness test was taken on 20 male sprinters, experimental as well as control groups. In conclusion; keeping the results and discussion in view the conclusions drawn that the significant effect of Ashwagandha on sprinters related to their standing broad jump (Meters), 50 yard dash (Seconds), pull-ups (Minutes), sit –ups (Minutes), shuttle run (Second), 12- min. run/walk.

Small gauge vitrectomy, also known as minimally invasive vitreous surgery (MIVS), is a classic example of progress in biomedical engineering. Disparity in conjunctival and scleral wound location and reduction in wound diameter are its core principles. Fluidic changes include increased pressure head loss with consequent reduction in infusional flow rate and use of higher aspiration vacuum at the cutter port. Increase An increase in port open/port closed time maintains an adequate rate of vitreous removal. High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps maintain adequate illumination in spite of a decrease in the number of fiberoptic fibers. The advantages of MIVS are, a shorter surgical time, minimal conjunctival damage, and early postoperative recovery. Most complications are centered on wound stability and risk of postoperative hypotony, endophthalmitis, and port site retinal break formation. MIVS is suited in most cases, however, it can cause dehiscence of recent cataract wounds. Retraction of the infusion cannula in the suprachoroidal space may occur in eyes with scleral thinning. As a lot has been published and discussed about sutureless vitrectomy a review of this subject is necessary. A PubMed search was performed in December 2011 with terms small gauge vitrectomy, 23-gauge vitrectomy, 25-gauge vitrectomy, and 27 gauge vitrectomy, which were revised in August 2012. There were no restrictions on the date of publication but it was restricted to articles in English or other languages, if there abstracts were available in English.

Splenic epidermoid cysts are rare non-parasitic true cysts affecting the spleen. We report a five-year-old child who presented with an abdominal lump associated with pain of 15 days. Ultrasonography of the abdomen showed a huge cystic lesion of obscure origin. At laprotomy a huge unilocular cyst involving upper part of spleen containing pultaceous fluid was seen and its removal necessitated splenectomy. Histopathological findings were consistent with splenic epidermoid cyst. Thus histopathology helped in elucidating the aetiology and diagnosis.

We report a case of isolated homonymous hemianopsia due to presumptive cerebral tubercular abscess as the initial manifestation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. A 30-year-old man presented to our outpatient department with sudden loss of visibility in his left visual field. He had no other systemic symptoms. Perimetry showed left-sided incongruous homonymous hemianopsia denser above the horizontal meridian. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed irregular well-marginated lobulated lesions right temporo-occipital cerebral hemisphere and left high fronto-parietal cerebral hemisphere suggestive of brain tubercular abscess. Serological tests for HIV were reactive, and the patient was started only on anti-tubercular drugs with the presumptive diagnosis of cerebral tubercular abscess. Therapeutic response confirmed the diagnosis. Atypical ophthalmic manifestations may be the initial presenting feature in patients with HIV infection. This highlights the need for increased index of suspicion for HIV infection in young patients with atypical ophthalmic manifestations.

Circumscribed choroidal hemangiomas are rare ophthalmic entities that cause diminution in vision due to accumulation of subretinal and/or intraretinal fluid in the macular area. Various treatment options ranging from conventional laser to photodynamic therapy have been employed to destroy the tumor and reduce the exudation; however, either the inability to penetrate through the exudative fluid or the collateral retinal damage induced by these treatment modalities make them unsuitable for lesions within the macula. We evaluated the role of intravitreal bevacizumab, a pan-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor, in reducing the sub- and intraretinal fluid in three patients with circumscribed choroidal hemangiomas. All the patients had complete resolution of the serous retinal detachment that was maintained till at least 12 months after the first injection. Intravitreal bevacizumab may be used in combination with thermal laser or photodynamic therapy in treating circumscribed choroidal hemangiomas with subretinal fluid.

The objective of the present work is to study the effects of laser power, joining speed, and stand-off distance on the joint strength of PET and 316 L stainless steel joint. The process parameters were optimized using response methodology for achieving good joint strength. The central composite design (CCD) has been utilized to plan the experiments and response surface methodology (RSM) is employed to develop mathematical model between laser transmission joining parameters and desired response (joint strength). From the ANOVA (analysis of variance), it was concluded that laser power is contributing more and it is followed by joining speed and stand-off distance. In the range of process parameters, the result shows that laser power increases and joint strength increases. Whereas joining speed increases, joint strength increases. The joint strength increases with the increase of the stand-off distance until it reaches the center value; the joint strength then starts to decrease with the increase of stand-off distance beyond the center limit. Optimum values of laser power, joining speed, and stand-off distance were found to be 18 watt, 100 mm/min, and 2 mm to get the maximum joint strength (predicted: 88.48 MPa). There was approximately 3.37% error in the experimental and modeled results of joint strength.

Bacterial community of the Khuangcherapuk cave sediment was assessed by Illumina amplicon sequencing. The metagenome comprised of 533,120 raw reads with an average base quality (Phred score) 36.75 and G + C content is 57.61%. A total of 18 bacterial phyla were detected with following abundant genus — Mycobacterium (21.72%), Rhodococcus (7.09%), Alteromonas (1.42%), Holomonas (0.7%) and Salinisphaera (0.20%). Majority portion of the sequences (68%) is unclassified at the genus level indicating the possibilities for the presence of novel species in this cave. This study reports the cave bacterial diversity from the biodiversity hotspot region of Eastern Himalayas. Metagenome sequence data are available at NCBI under the Bioproject database with accession no. SRP056890.

Jakrem hot water spring is located in the West Khasi Hill District of the state of Meghalaya, and is one of the most popular hot springs of the state. There is a populist belief among the inhabitants and people that the hot spring water has got curative properties against various skin ailments. This is the first report on V3 hyper-variable region of 16S rDNA metagenome sequence employing Illumina platform to profile the microbial community of this less known hot spring from Meghalaya, India. Metagenome comprised of 10, 74,120 raw sequences with a sequence length of 151 bp and 56.35% G + C content. Metagenome sequence information is now available at NCBI, SRA database accession no. SRP056897. A total of 8, 77, 364 pre-processed reads were clustered into 694 OTUs (operational taxonomical units) comprising of 14 bacterial phyla including unknown phylum demonstrating 49 families. Hot spring bacterial community is dominated by Firmicutes (61.60%), Chloroflexi (21.37%), Cyanobacteria (12.96%) and unclassified bacteria (1.2%) respectively.

The authors report the unusual observation discrete plaque like excrescencies along the retinal arterial wall in a young patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Though bilateral, in the right eye there was severe arteriolar narrowing and so these plaques were less identifiable. Fluorescein angiography did not reveal any arteriolar occlusion or areas of capillary occlusion in both eyes. There were no other signs of HIV associated microangiopathy and the patient did not have any concurrent cardiovascular or hematological abnormality. The cause of these plaques remains unexplained and we conjecture that they could represent macro immunecomplex deposition along the arteriolar walls.

Recent findings suggest that modulation of ion channels might be implicated in some of the clinical effects of coxibs, selective inhibitors of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). Celecoxib and its inactive analog 2,5-dimethyl-celecoxib, but not rofecoxib, can suppress or augment ionic currents and alter functioning of neurons and myocytes. To better understand these unexpected effects, we have recently investigated the mechanism of inhibition of human K(v)2.1 channels by a highly selective COX-2 inhibitor SC-791. In this study we have further explored the SC-791 action on ion channels and heartbeat in Drosophila, which lacks cyclooxygenases and thus can serve as a convenient model to study COX-2-independent mechanisms of coxibs. Using intracellular recordings in combination with a pharmacological approach and utilizing available Drosophila mutants, we found that SC-791 inhibited voltage-activated K(+) and L-type Ca(2+) channels in larval body-wall muscles and reduced heart rate in a concentration-dependent manner. Unlike celecoxib and several other K(+) channel blockers, SC-791 did not induce arrhythmia. Instead, application of SC-791 resulted in a dramatic slowing of contractions and, at higher concentrations, in progressively weaker contractions with gradual cessation of heartbeat. Isradipine, a selective blocker of L-type Ca(2+) channels, showed a similar pattern of heart arrest, though no prolongation of contractions was observed. Ryanodine was the only channel modulating compound of those tested additionally that was capable of slowing contractions. Like SC-791, ryanodine reduced heart rate without arrhythmia. However, it could not stop heartbeat completely even at 500 µM, the highest concentration used. The magnitude of heart rate reduction, when SC-791 and ryanodine were applied together, was smaller than expected for independent mechanisms, raising the possibility that SC-791 might be interfering with excitation-contraction coupling in Drosophila heart.

Celecoxib (Celebrex), a widely prescribed selective inhibitor of cyclooxygenase-2, can modulate ion channels independently of cyclooxygenase inhibition. Clinically relevant concentrations of celecoxib can affect ionic currents and alter functioning of neurons and myocytes. In particular, inhibition of Kv2.1 channels by celecoxib leads to arrhythmic beating of Drosophila heart and of rat heart cells in culture. However, the spectrum of ion channels involved in human cardiac excitability differs from that in animal models, including mammalian models, making it difficult to evaluate the relevance of these observations to humans. Our aim was to examine the effects of celecoxib on hERG and other human channels critically involved in regulating human cardiac rhythm, and to explore the mechanisms of any observed effect on the hERG channels.Celecoxib inhibited the hERG, SCN5A, KCNQ1 and KCNQ1/MinK channels expressed in HEK-293 cells with IC(50)s of 6.0 µM, 7.5 µM, 3.5 µM and 3.7 µM respectively, and the KCND3/KChiP2 channels expressed in CHO cells with an IC(50) of 10.6 µM. Analysis of celecoxib's effects on hERG channels suggested gating modification as the mechanism of drug action.The above channels play a significant role in drug-induced long QT syndrome (LQTS) and short QT syndrome (SQTS). Regulatory guidelines require that all new drugs under development be tested for effects on the hERG channel prior to first administration in humans. Our observations raise the question of celecoxib's potential to induce cardiac arrhythmias or other channel related adverse effects, and make a case for examining such possibilities.

Aims: The aim was to evaluate the long-term surgical outcomes of endoillumination assisted scleral buckling (EASB) in primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). Methods: Twenty-five eyes of 25 patients with primary RRD and proliferative vitreoretinopathy ≤C2 where any preoperative break could not be localised, were included. All patients underwent 25 gauge endoilluminator assisted rhegma localisation. Successful break determination was followed by cryopexy and standard scleral buckling under surgical microscope. Anatomical and functional outcomes were evaluated at the end of 2 years. Results: At least one intraoperative break could be localized in 23 of 25 (92%) eyes. Median age of these patients was 46 years (range: 17-72). Thirteen eyes (56.52%) were phakic, 8 (34.78%) were pseudophakic and 2 (8.6%) were aphakic. Anatomical success (attachment of retina) was achieved in 22 (95.63%) of 23 eyes with EASB. All eyes remained attached at the end of 2 years. Significant improvement in mean visual acuity (VA) was achieved at the end of follow-up (1.09 ± 0.46 log of the minimum angle of resolution [logMAR]) compared with preoperative VA (1.77 ± 0.28 logMAR) (P < 0.001). Conclusion: EASB can be considered an effective alternative to vitreoretinal surgery in simple retinal detachment cases with the added advantage of enhanced microscopic magnification and wide field illumination.