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Background Dual antiplatelet therapy is the current standard of care after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We intended to study the pattern of use of ticagrelor in patients with acute coronary syndrome undergoing PCI and the effect of switching over to other P2Y12 receptor inhibition on clinical outcomes. Results All patients aged > 18 years who had been admitted with acute coronary syndrome and had been provided ticagrelor as the second antiplatelet agent were included as study participants. The primary outcome of the study was the composite outcome of death, recurrent myocardial infarctions, re-intervention, and major bleeding. We studied 321 patients (54 female patients, 16.82%). The mean age of the patients was 56.65 ± 11.01 years. Ticagrelor was stopped in 76.7% on follow-up. It was stopped in 6.3%, 13.5%, 13.1%, 21.9%, and 45.1% of patients during the first month but after discharge, between first and third months, between 3 and 6 months, between 6 and 12 months, and after 12 months, respectively. In the majority of patients, ticagrelor was replaced by clopidogrel (97.9%). It was stopped according to the physician’s discretion in 79.3% of patients, whereas it was the cost of the drug that made the patient to get swapped to another agent in 18.6%. No difference in the primary composite outcome was observed between the groups where ticagrelor was continued post 12 months and ticagrelor was continued and ticagrelor was switched-over to another agent. Similarly, no difference in death, recurrent myocardial infarctions, re-interventions, or major bleeding manifestations was observed between the two groups. Conclusion In patients with acute coronary syndrome who undergo PCI, we observed that early discontinuation of ticagrelor and switching over to other P2Y12 inhibitors after discharge did not affect clinical outcomes.

Objectives: To develop a novel ultra-performance liquid chromatographic technique for the estimation of alectinib in a API and tablet. Methods: The chromatographic separation was achieved using DIKMA Endoversil (2.1 x 50mm, 1.7μm) column, mobile phase was phosphate buffer, pH 4.6 and methanol as a mobile phase (45:55) with a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min and eluent was monitored at 265 nm. The method was continued and validated in accordance with International conference on harmonization guidelines. Validation study revealed the specificity and reliability of the method. Results: In this method alectinib was eluted with retention time of 0.418 min. Calibration curve plots were found linear over the concentration ranges 1-100 μg/mL for alectinib. Limit of detection was 0.015μg/ml and limit of quantification was found 0.07μg/mL. The % assay of the marketed dosage form was found 97.80 %, even the present approach was found to be effective in the analysis of alectinib in force degradation condition. Conclusion: The experiential evidences of all the study results revealed the suitability of the estimation of alectinib in API and tablet formulation.

Dielectric elastomer (DE) generator (DEG) employs a soft capacitive transducer. This transducer is mainly used to convert ambient mechanical motion into electricity. The amplitude of the converted electrical signal is analogous to the magnitude of the mechanical motion. However, the inherently unpredictable nature of ambient mechanical motion causes instability in the energy conversion process. This article aims to develop a controlled conditioning unit, which is to be interfaced with DEG to eliminate this instability. This article generalizes a previously reported conditioning circuit with the help of a proportional and integral (PI) controller under the DEG domain to make the energy conversion process stable. Indeed, the overall analysis is carried out in two different stages. At first, an electromechanical prototype for DEG is designed, which is responsible for converting mechanical motion into a corresponding electrical signal. Second, the generated electrical signal is processed through a conditioning circuit, which constitutes a regulator followed by a switching mode converter. Intuitive analysis of stability is presented for different magnitudes of mechanical motion and for different dynamic resistive loads. As the output voltage is found to vary with the DEG dynamics and resistive load, the inclusion of a controller to the conditioning interface unit is essential for constant voltage application. The experimental investigation shows that the DEG, along with the controlled conditioning unit, could maintain different desired quasi-constant output voltages in spite of variation at mechanical source and electrical load.

The development of flexible and soft robots generates new needs in terms of instrumentation, as large encountered deformations require highly stretchable strain sensors. In this regard, we contribute to the adoption of inductive sensors by providing tools to model and exploit them and showing their relevance experimentally. First, strain estimation based on voltage measurement is proposed. Compared to direct inductance evaluation, the principle is easier to implement and opens the possibility to optimize the measurement performances by tuning the circuit components and interrogation frequency. The possibility of performing a single sensor calibration independently via the elongation mode during strain sensing is outlined. A detailed characterization is then performed, which shows that the sensor produces a low hysteresis of 0.1%, a precision in the order of 0.14%, and an accuracy of 0.9%. Finally, two proofs of concept are proposed: 1) the integration with a pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) that demonstrates the added value of the sensor for a model-free precise control of a soft system and 2) the closed-loop control of a flexible bending manipulator using the inductive sensor. The performance in the closed-loop control is demonstrated, with a sensing element that is easy to integrate mechanically, strengthening its potential to be used as a structural element as well.

Supra SAE INDIA is a national level event organized yearly by Society of Automotive Engineers India by Maruti Suzuki which gives a great platform for the young technocrats to test their engineering skills and refining them by learning from their works. The current study and experiment aims to design, develop and fabricate a low cost car without compromising the safety of the driver in accordance with the rulebook of SAE SUPRA given by SAE. A tubular space frame chassis is designed with a new idea for construction by the help of solid works, manufactured by the help of AISI 4130 based on the best performance and effectiveness. The design and development comprises of material selection, chassis design, cross section determination, determining strength requirements against failure and then fabricated in the workshop as per the tools availability and techniques with the students. All the process parameter is done according to the steps mentioned in the rulebook and the basic knowledge of chassis design.

The complement of standalone auxiliary sources with energy harvesters is essential in connection to mobile electronic devices and low power medical appliances due to some shortcomings like recharging of auxiliary cells and operation at low power. This paper deals with a motion based energy harvester which can harvest electrical energy in synchronous to human knee motion using dielectric elastomer (DE). Dielectric elastomer generator (DEG) adopts electrostatic energy conversion principle, by virtue of which the ambient mechanical motion converts into an analog electrical signal. It employs a biaxial stretched soft elastomer with compliant electrodes. At first, an electromechanical prototype is developed to be attached at the knee joints. The prototype constitutes of a DEG, a standalone power supply so as to prime the DEG and an electrical load. The periodical displacement of the knee leads to a synchronous change in capacitance associated with the DEG transducer. In consequence, a relatively high voltage generates across the load. With respect to different knee joint rotation angles, the harvested electrical voltage and current values are measured. Corresponding output electrical signals are measured and presented with respect to time with relevant variations with pre-stretch, coating, and deflection on DE. Parameters like peak power, specific energy and energy conversion efficiency are calculated at different conditions to determine the best condition for optimum electrical energy harvesting from the human knee motion.

With the emergence of different dielectric elastomer transducers, the characterizations of dielectric elastomers are essential aspects for the design purpose. In this work, two potential dielectric elastomers, acrylic-based VHB and silicone-based Ecoflex, are tested and characterized under common loading conditions called equibiaxial and biaxial loading. Critical mechanical properties like hysteresis, fracture toughness, stretchability, and failure stress are obtained under equibiaxial and biaxial loading and compared with the same obtained under uniaxial and pure shear loading. It is found that hysteresis loss is almost equal in all three deformation modes. Fracture toughness under biaxial loading is more than that obtained from equibiaxial loading. Also, with increasing drawing ratio (DR), fracture toughness and failure stress decrease under biaxial loading condition. Stretchability is highest for uniaxial and followed by pure shear and equibiaxial loading cases. Stretchability is least for biaxial and with increasing drawing ratio, it further decreases. Fracture toughness, stretchability and failure stress are always more for VHB than Ecoflex under all deformation modes. However, hysteresis loss is more in case of VHB than Ecoflex. The present work successfully established the fact that for biaxial loading, fracture toughness and stretchability decreases drastically with drawing ratio. These results will provide the base of designing DEs transducers under various modes of deformation and more particularly for equibiaxial and biaxial deformation modes.

In recent years significant attention has been made towards teleoperation of a humanoid robot using haptic devices. Methodologies developed are either cost prohibitive or they are not very effective. The lack of an effective, economical and a simple technique for teleoperation of humanoids is a barrier in exploring their full potential. In this paper we have reported a novel method for teleoperation of a humanoid robot using an exoskeleton for lower limb and upper limb. Experiments were performed to test the effectiveness of the exoskeleton in capturing human motion by analyzing different walking patterns like slow walking, fast walking and jogging. The motion data captured using exoskeleton can be directly applied to the servo motors of the humanoid for teleoperation. The joint angles of the human subject and the humanoid were also compared using image processing to see the overall effectiveness of the proposed method for teleoperation. The results indicate that the method is effective and affordable for teleoperation of the humanoid robots.

This paper proposes a comparative study of harvesting circuits which were used as energy harvesting circuits for dielectric elastomer generator. The comparison of three different harvesting circuits has been made in terms of output voltage, output power, frequency response and conversion efficiency. The simulations are carried out using PSPICE software to convert low as well as high frequency generator outputs to a steady low DC voltage for storing energy into a Li-ion battery. Simulation results for output voltage are shown to swing between 3.5 V to 4.2 V. The study boosts in understanding the nature of frequency response and effectiveness of different approaches of forward path circuits to store electrical energy produced by dielectric elastomer generator using ambient kinetic energy input sources.

Prediabetes occurs due to two basic defects--insulin resistance and/or beta-cell failure. An observation suggested that insulin resistance may be associated with essential hypertension. There are some thoughts to favour the argument that insulin resistant Individuals are at a higher risk to develop hypertension as compared to insulin sensitive individuals. Some pathophysiological causes which have been commonly observed and hypothesised are narrated in this article. Management of hypertension in prediabetes should include antihypertensives and therapeutic lifestyle modification. To manage hypertension in prediabetes one should think for dietary modification, reduced salt intake, physical activity, smoking cessation, use of statins and antihypertensives.