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Natural fibers play a crucial role in sandwich composites due to their biodegradability, ease of manufacturing, and ability to reduce pollution. The research aims to develop new biodegradable polymer composites using pine tree leaves (PTL) fillers loaded with epoxy through hand layup technique with different wt. % of PTL fillers. The molded composites were characterized to analyze the crystal size and plane orientations, surface morphology, thermal resistance, and presence of elemental compositions in the PTL filler-loaded epoxy composites through X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), Energy dispersive analysis (EDX), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The 40 wt % of PTL epoxy composites showed a maximum tensile strength of 32 ± 0.5 MPa, a compressive strength of 15 ± 0.5 MPa, a flexural strength of 55 ± 0.5 MPa, and a Shore D hardness of 73 ± 0.5 SHN. The mechanical strength of 40 wt% PTL fillers loaded epoxy composite was enhanced by adding a single and double layer of E-glass fiber on the bottom and top of the PTL fillers loaded epoxy composite, achieving a maximum tensile strength of 76 ± 0.5 MPa. The 40 wt% PTL fillers loaded double E-glass fiber on the bottom and top of the PTL fillers loaded epoxy sandwich composite attained the maximum tensile strength of 156 ± 0.5 MPa, compressive strength of 29 ± 0.5 MPa, flexural strength of 220 ± 0.5 MPa, and Shore D hardness of 79 ± 0.5 SHN. The PTL fillers loaded and reinforced double E-glass fiber epoxy sandwich composite would be used in low-strength structural applications.

Undifferentiated Embryonal Sarcoma of the Liver (UESL) is a rare hepatic malignant mesenchymal neoplasm in the paediatric population, typically affecting children between 6-10 years of age without sex predilection. It accounts for 9-15% of paediatric liver malignancies, with an incidence of 0.6-1.2 cases per one million patients. Here, the authors present a case of an 11-year-old male, who presented with right upper quadrant pain, loss of appetite for the past one month, and high-grade fever for the past three days. On examination, a firm mass in the right hypochondrium and epigastrium, about 4 cm below the right costal margin, was noted, moving with respiration. Blood work showed normal values and normal alpha-fetoprotein levels. An ultrasonogram revealed a cystic lesion, while a contrast-enhanced Computed Tomography (CT) scan showed a large hepatic space-occupying lesion with cystic and solid architecture, with the following differential diagnosis as, embryonal sarcoma and hepatoblastoma. The patient underwent surgery for a hepatic hydatid cyst, and the procedure performed was percutaneous aspiration, irrigation and respiration. Gross examination revealed multiple grey-brown and grey-white fragments with a variegated appearance. Microscopic analysis showed a malignant neoplasm composed of spindle cells, stellate cells, multinucleated giant cells in a myxoid stroma, with many atypical mitoses present. Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS) positive eosinophilic hyaline globules were observed in the tumour cell cytoplasm, along with extensive areas of haemorrhage and necrosis. The final diagnosis of embryonal sarcoma was made after a panel of Immunohistochemistry (IHC) markers. The present case is presented here due to its rarity and diagnostic challenge, arising from the lack of a characteristic clinical presentation, serological markers and inconclusive radiological findings.

Ksheerabdhi Sankar, Kuppusamy Anand, Swetha Ramani, Balasubramaniam Gayathri Department of Anesthesiology, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Potheri, 603203, IndiaCorrespondence: Kuppusamy Anand, Department of Anesthesiology, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Room No. 206, B Block, Second Floor, Potheri, 603203, India, Tel +91-98652 82288, Email anandk@srmist.edu.inBackground and Aim: Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) under epidural anesthesia has been reported to have few advantages over general anesthesia, like lower postoperative pain and less need for analgesics. There are limited studies on PCNL being performed under neuraxial anesthesia in supine position. Hence the present study was conceived to compare hemodynamic parameters in patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) in the supine position under combined spinal-epidural with general anesthesia (GA).Material and Methods: A prospective, randomized control trial was conducted among 90 patients who were posted to undergo elective percutaneous nephrolithotomy in the the supine position, after obtaining Institutional Ethical Committee (IEC) approval and CTRI (Clinical Trial Registry - India) registration. Patients were randomly allotted to undergo surgery either under general anesthesia (group GA) or combined spinal epidural anesthesia (group CSE) by computer-generated random number method. Hemodynamic parameters, postoperative analgesic requirement and incidence of blood transfusion were recorded and analyzed.Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to gender, ASA grade, surgery duration, calculus size and pulse rate. There was a statistically significant reduction in mean arterial pressure from 5 to 50 minutes of surgery and less incidence of blood transfusion in patients in the CSE group. Patients who underwent PCNL in the supine position under CSE required lesser analgesics postoperatively compared to those under general anesthesia.Conclusion: Combined spinal epidural analgesia can be used as an alternative to general anesthesia for patients undergoing PCNL in the supine position in view of less MAP and reduced postoperative analgesic and blood transfusion requirement.Keywords: pulse rate, mean arterial pressure, percutaneous nephrolithotomy, ureteroscopy, supine position

Raksha Vedavyas, Ravi Saravanan, Gunaseelan Mirunalini, Balasubramaniam Gayathri Department of Anesthesiology, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Center, SRMIST, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu, IndiaCorrespondence: Gunaseelan Mirunalini, Department of Anesthesiology, SRM MCH RC, SRMIST, No. 219, Second Floor, Block B, SRM Nagar, Chengalpattu District, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu, 603203, India, Tel +91 9486131643, Email mirunalini.gunaseelan@gmail.comIntroduction: The ultrasound-guided infraclavicular brachial plexus block by triple-point injection method was aimed at blocking the three individual cords in the infraclavicular region. Recently, a single-point injection method which does not require visualization of cords to produce nerve block has been introduced. This study compared the block onset time, performance time, patient’s satisfaction, and complications between the ultrasound guided triple-point injection and single-point injection methods.Patients and Method: This randomized controlled trial was conducted in a tertiary care hospital. Sixty patients were divided into two groups – Group S: 30 patients received single-point injection method of infraclavicular block. Group T: 30 patients received triple-point injection method of infraclavicular block. Drugs used were 0.5% ropivacaine with 8 mg dexamethasone.Results: The sensory onset time was significantly longer in Group S (11.13 ± 1.83 min) than Group T (6.20 ± 1.19min). No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups regarding mean motor onset time. The composite sensorimotor onset time was similar between the groups. The mean time to perform the block was significantly lesser in Group S (1.35 ± 0.38 min) when compared to group T (3.44 ± 0.61min). The patient satisfaction score, conversion to general anesthesia and complications were not significant among the two groups.Conclusion: We concluded that single-point injection method had a shorter performance time and similar total onset time with less procedural complications compared with triple point injection method.Keywords: ultrasonography, interventional, infraclavicular, anesthesia, ropivacaine, dexamethasone, patient satisfaction

Introduction and Background: Lymphadenopathy is an abnormal increase in size and/ or altered consistency of lymph nodes. The use of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the investigation of lymphadenopathy has become an acceptable and widely practiced minimally invasive technique, which is safe, simple and rapid. The main objective of present study was categorizing various lesions of lymphadenopathy by cytology. Materials and Methods: This was a 2 years and 3 months study done in Department of Pathology, Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences, Madikeri, Karnataka, India. It included 309 patients with lymphadenopathies at various sites. Acellular aspirates were excluded from the study. FNAC was conducted with the help of a 22 guage disposable needle attached to a 5cc syringe. Haematoxylin, Eosin stain & Papanicolaou stains were done on alcohol fixed smears. May-Grunwald Giemsa Stain was done on air-dried smears. Ziehl-Neelsen stain was done when tuberculosis was suspected for the demonstration of acid-fast bacilli. The results were expressed as percentage and were tabulated. Results and Discussion: Maximum number of patients were diagnosed with Reactive Lymphadenitis followed by Granulomatous lymphadenitis. The other lesions were acute suppurative lymphadenitis, Metastatic Lymphadenopathy, Tuberculous Lymphadenitis, Lymphomas and Non -Specific Lymphadenitis. The most common site of lymph node aspiration was cervical group of lymph nodes. The most common malignancy with lymph node metastasis was Squamous cell carcinoma. Conclusion: FNA is a convenient, quick and accurate procedure that can be performed in patients attending outpatient department. Reactive lymphadenitis was the most common lesion detected in FNA of lymph nodes in our study with cervical group of lymph nodes being the most commonly affected group.

The present study was conducted in the state of Kerala to analyse the training needs of 100 trainees of five Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK). The findings indicated that the packaging & marketing of mushroom and post harvest handling value addition were the most preferred training areas by the KVK trainees in mushroom production. In apiculture, honey extraction essential operations was perceived as the most needed area of training. In the area of value addition of fruits and vegetables, technology upgradation and packaging marketing techniques were the most preferred areas by the trainees. Relational analysis revealed that socio-economic variables like educational status and annual income, communication variables like extension contact and mass media exposure and entrepreneurial variables like entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial need, entrepreneurial capacity, innovativeness, achievement motivation, decision making ability, risk orientation, self confidence, cosmopoliteness and economic motivation were found positively and significantly correlated with training needs. The KVKs should take concrete efforts to organize need based entrepreneurship development training programmes to improve effectiveness.

Background: Pancytopenia is a relatively common hematological entity. It is a striking feature of many serious and life-threatening illnesses, ranging from simple drug-induced bone marrow hypoplasia, megaloblastic anemia to fatal bone marrow aplasias and leukemias. The severity of pancytopenia and the underlying pathology determine the management and prognosis. Thus, identification of the correct cause will help in implementing appropriate therapy. Objectives: To study the clinical presentations in pancytopenia due to various causes; and to evaluate hematological parameters, including bone marrow aspiration. Materials and Methods: It was a prospective study, and 104 pancytopenic patients were evaluated clinically, along with hematological parameters and bone marrow aspiration in Hematology Unit, Department of Pathology, JJMMC, Davanagere, during the period of September 2005 to September 2007. Results: Among 104 cases studied, age of patients ranged from 2 to 80 years with a mean age of 41 years, and male predominance. Most of the patients presented with generalized weakness and fever. The commonest physical finding was pallor, followed by splenomegaly and hepatomegaly. Dimorphic anemia was the predominant blood picture. Bone marrow aspiration was conclusive in all cases. The commonest marrow finding was hypercellularity with megaloblastic erythropoiesis. The commonest cause for pancytopenia was megaloblastic anemia (74.04%), followed by aplastic anemia (18.26%). Conclusion: The present study concludes that detailed primary hematological investigations along with bone marrow aspiration in cytopenic patients are helpful for understanding disease process and to diagnose or to rule out the causes of cytopenia. These are also helpful in planning further investigations and management.

The increasing movement from rural areas to urban areas, along with the widening gap in population, has resulted in metropolitan areas becoming extremely overpopulated. As a result of the high volume of traffic that occurs in these areas, traffic monitoring is an extremely important activity. According to the findings of this study, an improved authentication and communication protocol that is based on clusters could be implemented for Intelligent Transportation Systems in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs). Our number one objective is to enhance the sharing of resources amongst vehicles through improved communication. Cluster-based routing protocols allowed us to increase the scalability, stability, and dependability of fast-moving VANETs. This was accomplished in the context of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. To easing concerns regarding privacy and safety, we arranged for the vehicles to be certified by an independent contractor. Through the utilization of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), we can reduce the number of instances in which links fail, as well as minimize end-to-end (E2E) delays and route requests. Our approach has resulted in several important benefits, including enhancements to throughput, reductions in the amount of time required for TCP socket initialization, acceleration of TCP handshake response, and DNS lookup. Shortrange peer-to-peer wireless communication is the focus of the protocols that are used within a cluster that is 400 meters in radius. Utilizing new peer-to-peer wireless communications over VANET is what is meant by the term resource-conserving in this context. Within the framework of the suggested protocol secure authentication method, a certifying authority is responsible for the generation of a secure authentication key for the vehicle, which is subsequently provided to the vehicle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was conducted during the rabi 2022-23 season to investigate the effect of integrated nutrient management on growth and yield of quinoa. It was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications. Results revealed that application of different sources of manures either alone or in combination with fertilizer and biofertilizers application significantly affected the growth and yield of quinoa. Application of treatment 50 per cent nitrogen dose (ND) + 50 per cent N through vermicompost (VC) + seed treatment (Azotobacter + PSB) in comparison to application of 100 per cent fertilizer dose observed significantly higher plant height (134.85 cm), number of branches (24.56 plant-1), dry matter production (23.82g plant-1), leaf area (583.73 cm2 plant-1), panicle length (39.54 cm), harvest index (45.01), grain yield (1814.87 kg ha-1) and stover yield (2217.13 kg ha-1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Edge computing has emerged as a potential solution to some of the challenges in healthcare. It involves processing data closer to the source, such as medical devices and sensors, rather than relying solely on centralized data centers or cloud computing. This approach offers advantages like reduced latency, real-time decision-making, and enhanced privacy protection. Efficient privacy-preserving medical diagnosis on edge computing platforms is a concept deeply rooted in the intersection of healthcare and technology. Over the years, medical diagnosis has increasingly relied on machine learning algorithms to analyze vast amounts of patient data. These algorithms can predict diseases, identify anomalies in medical images, and offer personalized treatment recommendations. However, a significant challenge in this domain is the protection of patient data privacy. Healthcare data is incredibly sensitive, and data breaches or unauthorized access can result in severe consequences, including identity theft and discrimination. Therefore, this research work tackles several key issues. First and foremost, it aims to ensure the privacy of medical data throughout the diagnosis process. This means developing machine learning models and algorithms that can make accurate predictions while safeguarding the sensitive information contained in patient records. Additionally, these models must be highly efficient to operate effectively within the resource-constrained environment of edge computing platforms. Further, real-time processing is a critical requirement in healthcare, especially for conditions that demand immediate attention. Hence, this work strives to provide timely results to healthcare providers. Furthermore, the models must maintain a high level of accuracy and reliability to instill trust in the medical community and ensure that patients receive the best possible care. Ultimately, this research aligns with the goal of patient-centric care. It empowers patients to have more control over their data, share it securely with healthcare providers, and receive real-time decision support, all while preserving their privacy and the integrity of their medical information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Icosahedral closo-dodecaboranes have the ability to accept two electrons, opening into a dianionic nido-cluster. This transformation can be utilized to store electrons, drive bond activation, or alter coordination to metal cations. In this feature article, we present cases for each of these applications, wherein the redox activity of carborane facilitates the generation of unique products. We highlight the effects of exohedral substituents on reactivity and the stability of the products through conjugation between the cluster and exohedral substituents. Futher, the utilization of the redox properties and geometry of carborane clusters in the ligand design is detailed, both in the stabilization of low-valent complexes and in the tuning of ligand geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]