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Fusarium oxysporum is an entomopathogenic fungus, and it has anti-biological activity against arthropods. Ticks are blood sucking arthropods which are responsible for transmitting different diseases in humans and animals. The use of chemical insecticides against ticks is not eco-friendly option and results in the development of acaricide resistance. Previously, we had cultured a local isolate of Fusarium oxysporum from soil samples which were identified through microscopy and confirmed through molecular technique. In our previous experiments, we have prepared Silver nanoparticles (AgNP) at pH 7 and they had been characterized through X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), UV-visible and zeta-potential. In our current study, the AgNP were prepared at different pH conditions and characterized through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The protein molecules of F. oxysporum were charged with Ag ions. F. oxysporum NP were observed to enhance anti-biological activity by killing Rhipicephalus microplus and they caused 100% mortality at pH 4 and pH 5 in 24 h in anti-tick biological assay. Our study is the first report to do biological assay against Rhipicehalus ticks by using Fusarium AgNP at acidic pH. Biological control using entomopathogenic fungi can be the best alternative of the chemical method to control the tick population. Resumo Fusarium oxysporum é um fungo entomopatogênico com atividade antibiológica contra artrópodes. Os carrapatos são artrópodes sugadores de sangue responsáveis pela transmissão de diversas doenças em humanos e animais. O uso de inseticidas químicos contra carrapatos não é uma opção ecologicamente correta e resulta no desenvolvimento de resistência acaricida. Anteriormente, havíamos cultivado um isolado local de Fusarium oxysporum a partir de amostras de solo que foram identificadas por microscopia e confirmadas por técnica molecular. Em nossos experimentos anteriores, preparamos nanopartículas de Prata (AgNP) em pH 7 e elas foram caracterizadas por Difração de Raios X (XRD), UV-visível e potencial zeta. No presente estudo, os AgNP foram preparados em diferentes condições de pH e caracterizados através de Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura (MEV) e Microscopia Eletrônica de Transmissão (TEM). As moléculas de proteína de F. oxysporum foram carregadas com íons Ag. Assim, observou-se que F. oxysporum NP aumenta a atividade antibiológica matando Rhipicephalus microplus e causando 100% de mortalidade em pH 4 e pH 5 em 24h no ensaio biológico anticarrapato. Este estudo é o primeiro relato de caso a realizar um ensaio biológico contra carrapatos Rhipicehalus usando Fusarium AgNP em pH ácido. Nesse sentido, é possível concluir que o controle biológico utilizando fungos entomopatogênicos pode ser a melhor alternativa do método químico para controlar a população de carrapatos.

Background: Ultrasound examination is considered to be a very useful imaging modality for the diagnosis of renal colic as well as other renal or extra-renal diseases. One of the major advantages of ultrasound examination is the avoidance of radiation exposure. However, it is reported to be operator dependent and less accurate when compared with Computed Tomography. Present study describes role of ultrasonography in assessment of suspected urological disease in patients referred to radiodiagnosis department of Nair Hospital, Mumbai during the study period. Methods: This observational descriptive study was conducted during June 2006 to June 2008 at Department of Radiology, BYL Nair Hospital, Mumbai, India. 84 patients with clinical features suggestive of urological disease and referred to the department for ultrasound examination were enrolled. Ultrasonography was done on a TOSHIBA ECCOCEE duplex Doppler ultrasound machine with 3.5-5 MHz curvilinear transducer. USG findings were correlated with the final diagnosis and USG examination findings were considered diagnostic if they resulted in correct histopathological diagnosis or correct identification of malignant tumours along with organ site. They were considered contributory when either the organ site was correctly identified without histology diagnosis or when malignancy was identified but without proper organ site. If the lesion was not detected, USG findings were marked as false negative and they were marked as false positive when the predicted disease was found to be incorrect on confirmatory diagnosis. Results: Age of the patients ranged from 0 to 76 years. Out of 84 patients studied, 49 were males and 35 were females. Overall ultrasound examination findings were found to be diagnostic in 48 cases (57.14%), contributory in 26 cases (30.95%), false negative in 10 cases (11.9%) whereas there were no false positive reports. There were 56 cases in which there were kidney lesions. Ultrasound examination findings were found to be diagnostic in 35 cases (62.5%), contributory in 17 cases (30.35%) and false negative in 4 cases (7.14%) whereas there were no false positive reports. There were 10 cases in which there were lesions involving both kidney and ureters. Ultrasound examination findings were found to be contributory in 8 cases (80%) and false negative in 2 cases (20%).There were 4 cases in which there were lesions involving ureters. Ultrasound examination findings were found to be false negative in all 4 cases (100%). There were 14 cases in which there were lesions involving urinary bladder. Ultrasound examination findings were found to be diagnostic in 4 cases (28.57%), contributory in 9 cases (64.28%) and false negative in 1 case (7.14%). Conclusions: Ultrasound examination was found to be diagnostic or contributory in diagnosis in most of the cases (88.1%). However there were a sizeable proportion of cases (11.9%) with false negative results on ultrasonography.

Physicochemical properties of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO

Introduction: India is among the countries reporting regular outbreaks of Dengue infections. The clinical & epidemiological profile of Dengue infection changes from time to time. Present study describes clinical & laboratory manifestations of dengue cases from a tertiary care centre. Methods: It is a descriptive observational study. Study duration was two years from Sep 2011 to Aug 2013. All the dengue patients admitted during this period were included and classified as per new WHO-2009 classification into: Dengue Fever without warning signs (DFWOWS), Dengue Fever with warning signs (DFWWS) and Severe Dengue (SD). The clinical & laboratory parameters were studied and described. Results: From the total of 150 cases, 128 cases (85.33%) were DFWWS, 15 cases (10%) were SD and 7cases (4.67%) were DFWOWS. The commonest age group affected (34 %) was between 11- 15 years. The male: female ratio of cases was 1.73:1. Clinical manifestations were fever (100%), rash (85.33%), arthralgia & myalgia (65.33%), vomiting (64.67%), pain in abdomen (54%), retro orbital pain (43.33%) & convulsions (6.67%). On examination 52% cases had hepatomegaly, 46.67% cases had hemorrhagic manifestations and Tourniquet test was positive in 34.67% of cases. In our study, 54.67% of total cases were positive for NS1 antigen, 28.67% cases were IgM positive and 16.66% cases were positive for both. Maximum number of patients had platelet counts between 40,000 to 1,00,000 (56%). Commonest complication was Encephalitis followed by ARDS. During study period, there was a single death and it was due to ARDS.

Background Volleyball is considered a physically demanding athletic sport; characterized by rapid acceleration, deceleration, and sudden changes of direction. It has been highlighted that aerobic capacity (VO2 max) which indicates cardiorespiratory fitness has a significant effect on the performance of athletes and is an important element of success in sports. Aim and objective The objective of this study was to compare aerobic capacity of university volleyball players from the region with that of matched sedentary controls. The secondary objective was to compare the findings with the aerobic capacity data reported in literature for the volleyball players and sedentary population. Materials and methods Sample size was calculated for detecting a large effect size (Cohen's d = 0.8) with α as 0.05 and power of study as 80% for two tailed hypothesis testing. By using Queen's college step test, VO2 max was measured in 30 male volleyball players in the age group of 20 to25 years and was compared with 30 age and socio-economic status matched controls with sedentary lifestyle. Results The mean predicted VO2 max was 52.99 ± 5.13 ml/kg/min in volleyball players and 37.01 ± 3.94 ml/kg/min in controls. The difference in mean values of VO2 max (ml/kg/min) in volleyball players and controls was statistically highly significant with p-value less than 0.001. Conclusion The volleyball players showed a superior aerobic capacity compared with age and socio-economic status matched controls with sedentary lifestyle.

Multicomputers are distributed memory systems in which independent computers are connected with each other by a network. Multicomputers are widely used in business and scientific applications. Due to their flexibility, scalability, and cost performance, multicomputer systems are considered preferable to multiprocessor systems. They are also gaining attraction in the area of Internet-based computing, in which delays or interruptions in client-server interactions may be equally costly to service providers and customers. Multicomputer systems attributed with high available (HA) solutions may be used to withstand service unavailability due to the web servers' failures. In this paper we investigate a Markov model-based approach to estimate the availability of multicomputer systems with and without HA. The availability is computed as a function of server failure rate and the number of surviving servers. This model can estimate the number of nodes needed for a required availability measure.

Objectives: The pathogenesis of neuropathy in type II Diabetes Mellitus is multifactorial. Hyperlipidemia may contribute to the development of diabetic neuropathy. This study aimed to assess the correlation between hyperlipidemia and diabetic neuropathy. Material And Method: The study included 60 known cases of Type II diabetes mellitus attending diabetic OPD at GMCH, Aurangabad of age 30-60 years with duration of 5-10 years. The cases were divided into two groups; Group I included diabetic patients with normolipidemia and Group II included diabetic patients with hyperlipidemia. Biochemical investigations included HbA1c, total cholesterol and triglycerides. Nerve conduction velocity was done by computerized Micromed RMSEMG system.Statistical analysis was done by unpaired student’s t test. Results: The study revealed significant reduction in conduction velocity in diabetic patients with hyperlipidemia.

Introduction: The occupational hazards reported in jewellery workers are due to the exposure to chemicals during jewellery making like cyanide, lead, zinc, cadmium, palladium, iridium, sulphuric acid, nitric acid, chalk moulds containing high percentage of silica, etc. Spirometry lung functions were assessed in goldsmith workers and compared with the control group. Methods: Twenty males working as goldsmith workers since last 10 years and above with period of exposure to chemical fumes > 5 hours/day were tested for spirometry lung function parameters of Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume at the end of one second (FEV1) and Maximum Voluntary Ventilation (MVV). The results were compared with matched controls. Results:The Mean ± Standard Deviation (SD) of FVC was 63.95±9.77% in cases and 76.95±8.1 in controls. The Mean ± Standard Deviation (SD) of FEV1 was 67.25±7.65% in cases and 73.3±8.31in controls. The Mean ± Standard Deviation (SD) of MVV was 61.8±10.54% in cases and 81±5.04in controls. All the parameters studied were significantly less in goldsmith workers. Conclusions: The spirometry lung function parameters were found to be significantly lesser in goldsmith workers when compared to the matched controls.

Background: Item analysis is the process of collecting, summarizing and using information from student’s responses to assess the quality of test items. Difficulty index and discrimination index are two parameters which help to evaluate the standard of multiple choice question (MCQ) used in an examination. Materials and Methods: An internal examination in Physiology was conducted at the end of one term. 148 students, out of 150, attended the exam. A total of 40 MCQ were given and analyzed. The data was analyzed by Microsoft Excel and recorded as mean ± standard deviation. The relationship between the difficulty index (P) and discrimination index (D) for each test item was determined by Pearson correlation analysis. Results: The mean difficulty index score was 0.54 ± 0.26 and mean discrimination score was 0.21 ± 0.14. On an average, about 10 of the MCQs were easy (P ≥ 70%) while 12 were difficult (P ≤ 30%) and the remaining 18 items were in acceptable range (P = 30-70%). In all, 2 items showed negative discrimination and 13 items exhibited poor discrimination. The remaining 25 items were in the range of acceptable to excellent discrimination. The discrimination index exhibited slight positive correlation with difficulty index (r = 0.3076 P = 0.05). However, it was not statistically significant. The maximal discrimination (d = 0.55) was observed with easy/difficult items (P = 0.6). Conclusion: The majority of the items were in acceptable range as far as difficulty and discrimination indices were concerned. Moderately easy/difficult items had the maximal discriminative ability. Too easy and too difficult items gave poor discrimination index.