Ant Colony Optimization for Multilevel Assembly Job Shop Scheduling

Job shop scheduling is one of the most explored areas in the last few decades. Although it is very commonly witnessed in real-life situations, very less investigation has been carried out in scheduling operations of multi-level jobs, which undergo serial, parallel, and assembly operations in an assembly job shop. In this work, some of the dispatch rules, which have best performances in scheduling multilevel jobs in dynamic assembly job shop, are tested in static assembly job shop environment. A new optimization heuristic based on Ant Colony Algorithm is proposed and its performance is compared with the dispatch rules

Amsaphalaka Marma - A Cadaveric Study

There are total of 107 Marma which are vital points where there is a Sannipata of Mamsa, Sira, Snayu, Asthi, Sandhi along with the Prana resides. Among them Amsaphalaka Marma is Prusthagata Asthi Marma, two in number and Vaikalyakara type of Marma, located on Pristhavansa Ubhaya to (both side of vertebral column) and is related to Trika. Trauma to Amsaphalaka Marma results in Baahuswapa and Shosha. Here Marmabhighata Lakshan can act as predictors of the structures involved. In this study, an attempt is made to find out exact location of Amsaphalaka Marma and its relations with other anatomical structures with the help of cadaveric dissection. The study concludes that the location of Amsaphalaka Marma may be considered as just above the superior border of the spine of the scapula on either side of the vertebral column

Identification of a Phosphorylation Site for Calcium/Calmodulindependent Protein Kinase II in the NR2B Subunit of the N-Methyl-D-aspartate Receptor

The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subtype of excitatory glutamate receptors plays critical roles in embryonic and adult synaptic plasticity in the central nervous system. The receptor is a heteromultimer of core subunits, NR1, and one or more regulatory subunits, NR2A-D. Protein phosphorylation can regulate NMDA receptor function (Lieberman, D. N., and Mody, I. (1994) Nature 369, 235-239; Wang, Y. T., and Salter, M. W. (1994) Nature 369, 233-235; Wang, L.-Y., Orser, B. A., Brautigan, D. L., and MacDonald, J. F. (1994) Nature 369, 230-232). Here we identify a major phosphorylation site on subunit NR2B that is phosphorylated by Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaM kinase II), an abundant protein kinase located at postsynaptic sites in glutamatergic synapses. For the initial identification of the site, we constructed a recombinant fusion protein containing 334 amino acids of the C terminus of the NR2B subunit and phosphorylated it with CaM kinase II in vitro. By peptide mapping, automated sequencing, and mass spectrometry, we identified the major site of phosphorylation on the fusion protein as Ser-383, corresponding to Ser-1303 of full-length NR2B. The Km for phosphorylation of this site in the fusion protein was ~50 nM, much lower than that of other known substrates for CaM kinase II, suggesting that the receptor is a high affinity substrate. We show that serine 1303 in the full-length NR2B and/or the cognate site in NR2A is a major site of phosphorylation of the receptor both in the postsynaptic density fraction and in living hippocampal neurons

A study on the effectiveness of wells criteria for diagnosing deep vein thrombosis

A clinical criteria devised by Wells and co-workers to diagnose deep vein thrombosis namely “Wells Criteria” has been tested in our study. This criteria has been tested in various health care settings in New Zealand and has helped to reduce the dependence on radiological investigations. AIM OF THE STUDY: 1. To test the effectiveness of Wells criteria for diagnosing deep vein thrombosis. 2. To find the associated co-morbidities causing deep vein thrombosis. METHODS: In our study the Wells criteria was tested using venous doppler ultrasound to confirm any case of deep vein thrombosis as suspected by Wells criteria. Time duration of the study was from September 2012 to November 2013. The study group included 50 cases of deep vein thrombosis as diagnosed by Wells criteria. Along with this the associated co morbid conditions in each case was also documented. RESULTS: Fifty cases of suspected deep vein thrombosis as per Wells Criteria admitted to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital were subjected to the confirmatory test of doppler venous ultrasound out of which 46 were proven to have deep vein thrombosis which amounted to 92% of cases. Higher the score more was the probability of having deep vein thrombosis. Out of the associated co morbidities analyzed surgery was found to be leading factor responsible which was amounting to 43% of cases analyzed. In this group alone 90% of the surgical cases were post caesarean section which signified the prothrombotic status of pregnant females who were in the age group of 20 and 30 years. There was also a relation between blood group and deep vein thrombosis in which 47.8% of cases had A positive blood group indicating a higher level of Von Willebrand factor, possibly a mutant variant. CONCLUSION: We can conclude that the Wells criteria is a very efficient indicator to diagnose deep vein thrombosis in our setup and to classify patients into various risk groups. Thus it would help to reduce delays in diagnosis and aids the clinician to start early treatment for deep vein thrombosis

Experimental Study on Waste Shredder

Mechanical systems are used in non-biological systems and heat to remove water and to reduce the volume and weight of the waste food. The water content from the food is removed by means of grinding food waste through shredders producing a semi solid product with the presence of coffee ground. This can also be sent to further processing or used as a feedstock. In order to breakdown food waste into small range of particles to make it a useful biomass product we use dehydrators. Thus, after testing its proven that it can be used directly on soil to increase the fertility rate as well as it is used as a compost feedstock

Kinase and phosphatase engagement is dissociated between memory formation and extinction

Associative long-term memories (LTMs) support long-lasting behavioural changes resulting from sensory experiences. Retrieval of a stable LTM by means of a large number of conditioned stimulus (CS) alone presentations produces inhibition of the original memory through extinction. Currently, there are two opposing hypotheses to account for the neural mechanisms supporting extinction. The unlearning hypothesis posits that extinction affects the original memory trace by reverting the synaptic changes supporting LTM. On the contrary, the new learning hypothesis proposes that extinction is simply the formation of a new associative memory that inhibits the expression of the original one. We propose that detailed analysis of extinction-associated molecular mechanisms could help distinguish between these hypotheses. Here we will review experimental evidence regarding the role of protein kinases and phosphatases on LTM formation and extinction. Even though kinases and phosphatases regulate both memory processes, their participation appears to be dissociated. LTM formation recruits kinases, but is constrained by phosphatases. Memory extinction presents a more diverse molecular landscape, requiring phosphatases and some kinases, but also being constrained by kinase activity. Based on the available evidence, we propose a new theoretical model for memory extinction: a neuronal segregation of kinases and phosphatases supports a combination of time-dependent reversible inhibition of the original memory (CS-US), with establishment of a new associative memory trace (CS-noUS)

Calcium/Calmodulin Dependent Protein Kinase II Bound to NMDA Receptor 2B Subunit Exhibits Increased ATP Affinity and Attenuated Dephosphorylation

Calcium/calmodulin dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is implicated to play a key role in learning and memory. NR2B subunit of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) is a high affinity binding partner of CaMKII at the postsynaptic membrane. NR2B binds to the T-site of CaMKII and modulates its catalysis. By direct measurement using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), we show that NR2B binding causes about 11 fold increase in the affinity of CaMKII for ATPγS, an analogue of ATP. ITC data is also consistent with an ordered binding mechanism for CaMKII with ATP binding the catalytic site first followed by peptide substrate. We also show that dephosphorylation of phospho-Thr286-α-CaMKII is attenuated when NR2B is bound to CaMKII. This favors the persistence of Thr286 autophosphorylated state of CaMKII in a CaMKII/phosphatase conjugate system in vitro. Overall our data indicate that the NR2B- bound state of CaMKII attains unique biochemical properties which could help in the efficient functioning of the proposed molecular switch supporting synaptic memory