The Superhydrophobic Boat

The purpose of this project is to successfully design and construct a boat hull while minimizing the amount of solid material in contact with the water. If successful, this experiment could serve as a first step in designing more efficient vessels through the reduction of the water drag force on the object. The approach to this project involved determining the optimal wire mesh and coating combination for the boat hull using both computational methods and experiment.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1052/thumbnail.jp

Dynamic Fuzzy c-Means (dFCM) Clustering and its Application to Calorimetric Data Reconstruction in High Energy Physics

In high energy physics experiments, calorimetric data reconstruction requires a suitable clustering technique in order to obtain accurate information about the shower characteristics such as position of the shower and energy deposition. Fuzzy clustering techniques have high potential in this regard, as they assign data points to more than one cluster,thereby acting as a tool to distinguish between overlapping clusters. Fuzzy c-means (FCM) is one such clustering technique that can be applied to calorimetric data reconstruction. However, it has a drawback: it cannot easily identify and distinguish clusters that are not uniformly spread. A version of the FCM algorithm called dynamic fuzzy c-means (dFCM) allows clusters to be generated and eliminated as required, with the ability to resolve non-uniformly distributed clusters. Both the FCM and dFCM algorithms have been studied and successfully applied to simulated data of a sampling tungsten-silicon calorimeter. It is seen that the FCM technique works reasonably well, and at the same time, the use of the dFCM technique improves the performance.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures. It is accepted for publication in NIM

CCAAT/enhancer binding protein β expression is increased in the brain during HIV-1-infection and contributes to regulation of astrocyte tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) associated with infection and activation of mononuclear phagocytes (MP) in the brain, occur late in disease. Infected/activated MP initiate neuroinflammation activating glial cells and ultimately disrupting neuronal function. Astrocytes secrete tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 in response to neural injury. Altered TIMP-1 levels are implicated in several CNS diseases. CCAAT enhancer-binding protein ß (C/EBPß), a transcription factor, is expressed in rodent brains in response to neuroinflammation, implicating it in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and HAND. Here, we report that C/EBPß mRNA levels are elevated and its isoforms differentially expressed in total brain tissue lysates of HIV-1-infected and HIV-1 encephalitis patients. In vitro, HAND-relevant stimuli additively induce C/EBPß nuclear expression in human astrocytes through 7 days of treatment. Over-expression of C/EBPß increases TIMP-1 promoter activity, mRNA, and protein levels in human astrocytes activated with interleukin-1ß. Knockdown of C/EBPß with siRNA decreases TIMP-1 mRNA and protein levels. These data suggest that C/EBPß isoforms are involved in complex regulation of astrocyte TIMP-1 production during HIV-1 infection; however, further studies are required to completely understand their role during disease progression

Maternal Health in Haryana: Evidences from NFHS

The paper is based on National Family Health Survey (NFHS) Haryana data collected during third and fourth round of survey. In terms of maternal health care indicators like ANC, IFA consumption, TT, assisted births, institutional births and PNC, Haryana performed better than India for parameters like TT, assisted deliveries and PNC; at par for IFA tablets and lower for ANC and institutional deliveries. Punjab was ahead of Haryana in terms of all these parameters. All these maternal health care indicators had a positive relationship with the raise in the educational level of the women. With the education the awareness level of women gets enhanced and they understand the importance of vital factors than their uneducated counterparts. Our policy planners and programme implementers should keep this important point well in mind that education is the key to easy eradication of all these problems and education of women will assist in achieving better results

Melatonin Alters Age-Related Changes in Transcription Factors and Kinase Activation

Male mice were fed 40 ppm melatonin for 2 months prior to sacrifice at age 26 months, and compared with both 26 and 4 month-old untreated controls. The nuclear translocation of NF-κB increased with age in both brain and spleen and this was reversed by melatonin only in brain. Another transcription factor, AP-1 was increased with age in the spleen and not in brain and this could be blocked by melatonin treatment. The fraction of the active relative to the inactive form of several enabling kinases was compared. The proportion of activated ERK was elevated with age in brain and spleen but this change was unresponsive to melatonin. A similar age-related increase in glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) was also refractory to melatonin treatment. The cerebral melatonin M1 receptor decreased with age in brain but increased in spleen. The potentially beneficial nature of melatonin for the preservation of brain function with aging was suggested by the finding that an age-related decline in cortical synaptophysin levels was prevented by dietary melatonin

Indirect signs of anterior cruciate ligament tear on MRI knee: a retrospective study

Background: Anterior cruciate ligament is the most common ligament tear in knee and its primary role is to provide stability to the knee joint. Aim of study is to describe various secondary signs that are helpful in diagnosing partial/complete ACL tear. MRI offers distinct advantages over arthroscopy as a means of evaluating the ACL. MRI evaluation is effective in preventing unnecessary arthroscopy by assessing the severity of ACL tear and coexisting injuries. Methods: In this retrospective study 30 cases of partial/complete ACL tear were studied over a period of six months using Siemens Magnetom Essenza 1.5T MRI scanner in Srinivas institute of medical sciences and research centre, Mangalore. Results: To establish the sensitivity and specificity of indirect signs at MR imaging of Anterior Cruciate Ligament in 30 patients (18 with complete and 12 with partial thickness tear). The indirect signs were as follows: Bone Contusions (70%); Buckling of PCL (72%); Posterior displacement of lateral meniscus (54%); Anterior displacement of tibia (28%); pericruciate fat pad (86%); Wavy patellar tendon sign (28%) and associated joint effusion (90%). Conclusions: ACL ligament is the most commonly disrupted ligament in knee seen in radiology and orthopedic practice. A significant percentage of partial tears will progress to a functionally complete ACL tear. MRI helps guide the treatment decision process by demonstrating the extent of ACL injury and secondary signs make the accuracy of diagnosis stronger

Functioning of ASHAs under National Health Mission in Punjab: An Appraisal

The present paper ascertains the functional efficacy of ASHAs and suggests measures for the optimization of their functioning in Punjab. For carrying out the study, different phases included random selection of three districts followed by two health blocks from each district and three sub centres from each block and subsequently one village from each sub centre. List of eligible women who had delivered a baby during the last three months prior to the survey was prepared and at last stage, five women from each village were selected at random. The findings revealed that the norms, including the age limit, educational qualification, residence and marital status set for the selection of ASHAs revealed clear adherence of the NHM guidelines. However two-thirds of the ASHAs were covering a population of more than 1,000 persons. About 90 percent of the ASHAs couldn’t specify their job responsibilities promptly on the activities related to spreading health awareness among adolescents, promoting hygiene practices, generating awareness on preventive measures on RTI/STI, HIV/AIDS, tobacco and alcoholism. About 94 percent of ASHA workers had received drug kit. However there were delays in the replenishment of drugs. As per NHM guidelines, no drug kit has AYUSH medications in it. Inter-sectoral collaboration among the ASHAs, ANMs, PRImembers and AWWs was more or less satisfactory even though ASHAs intervention in VHSNC meeting was not encouraging due to non-cooperation of other stakeholders. For strengthening of the ASHA programme, it is essential that the factors discouraging them are addressed properly

Clinical-pathological study on β-APP, IL-1β, GFAP, NFL, Spectrin II, 8OHdG, TUNEL, miR-21, miR-16, miR-92 expressions to verify DAI-diagnosis, grade and prognosis

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most important death and disability cause, involving substantial costs, also in economic terms, when considering the young age of the involved subject. Aim of this paper is to report a series of patients treated at our institutions, to verify neurological results at six months or survival; in fatal cases we searched for βAPP, GFAP, IL-1β, NFL, Spectrin II, TUNEL and miR-21, miR-16, and miR-92 expressions in brain samples, to verify DAI diagnosis and grade as strong predictor of survival and inflammatory response. Concentrations of 8OHdG as measurement of oxidative stress was performed. Immunoreaction of β-APP, IL-1β, GFAP, NFL, Spectrin II and 8OHdG were significantly increased in the TBI group with respect to control group subjects. Cell apoptosis, measured by TUNEL assay, were significantly higher in the study group than control cases. Results indicated that miR-21, miR-92 and miR-16 have a high predictive power in discriminating trauma brain cases from controls and could represent promising biomarkers as strong predictor of survival, and for the diagnosis of postmortem traumatic brain injury