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Pankaj Kumar

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London South Bank University

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Minufiya University

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

Università di Bologna

Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Francisco Vazquez-Garcia

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Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

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Papers by Pankaj Kumar

Synthesis, characterization, biological evaluation and QSAR studies of 11-p-substituted phenyl-12-phenyl-11a,12-dihydro-11H-indeno[2,1-c][1,5]benzothiazepines as potential antimicrobial agents

European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2012

A novel series of 11-p-substituted phenyl-12-phenyl-11a,12-dihydro-11H-indeno[2,1-c][1,5]benzothi... more A novel series of 11-p-substituted phenyl-12-phenyl-11a,12-dihydro-11H-indeno[2,1-c][1,5]benzothiazepines (3) has been synthesized and screened for their antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria and fungi (Aspergillus fumigates and Candida albicans). The antimicrobial evaluation data indicated that the compounds, 3d, 3g, 3h, 3k-3p exhibited very promising antibacterial activity and the derivatives 3k, 3l, 3o and 3p exhibited high antifungal activity. The QSAR studies carried out to find out the correlation between the antimicrobial activity and physicochemical properties of synthesized benzothiazepines (3) indicated the predominance of electronic parameters in describing their antimicrobial activity.

Study of Estimation of Stature by the Length of Femur

Journal of Evolution of medical and Dental Sciences, 2014

BACKGROUND: In the field of Forensic Medicine, one of the most useful pieces of information to be... more BACKGROUND: In the field of Forensic Medicine, one of the most useful pieces of information to be obtained from human skeleton remains, whatever their age is the living stature of the individual for the identification of a person. Status estimation by the length of femur plays an important role in the identification of a decomposed body. AIMS: Study was done to estimate the stature of an individual by the length of femur. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in the department of Forensic Medicine of Patna Medical College, Patna, during the period of Dec-13 to Jan-14. A total of 80 cases (40 rural males and 40 rural females), were studied. RESULTS: The results of present study showed that there was a definite relationship between the length of femur and cadaveric length. It was also clear from this study that prediction of stature is also influenced by sex and racial factor. CONCLUSION: The present work indicates that all the segments of femur have a definite relation with ...

Hydroelectric Energy Using Prediction Technique of Flood in River "Based on Fuzzy Rule Scheme

International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering Research and Development, 2020

Flood can be used for generating Hydraulic energy so with the change in the approach of geographi... more Flood can be used for generating Hydraulic energy so with the change in the approach of geographical study various techniques and models are brought to the subject in the present day global context. It has become more common in catchments study. In water resource management, flood control, land use planning and processes of ground water management Stimulation of rainfall and discharge processes is very important. As the flood is very common and more vulnerable for us, fuzzy guideline-based models can help to predict and forecast the flood. The discharge phenomenon of Jiadhal basin of Dhemaji District is very complex. The factors like rainfall, soil types, vegetation etc, with their varying characteristics, influence the volume of discharge. In this prospect, an effort is made to apply fuzzy guideline-based model to predict and forecast the flood of Jiadhal basin.

Kotia, A., P. Kumar, U. K. L. Tewari, A. N. Prasad and G. S. Rawat. 2010. New distribution records of some Orchids from Chhatishgarh state (Kanger Valley National Park), India. The Indian Forester, 136 (1): 354 – 358

Numerical Scheme for the Solution of Fractional Differential Equations of Order Greater Than 1

Volume 6: 5th International Conference on Multibody Systems, Nonlinear Dynamics, and Control, Parts A, B, and C, 2005

This paper presents a numerical scheme for the solutions of Fractional Differential Equations (FD... more This paper presents a numerical scheme for the solutions of Fractional Differential Equations (FDEs) of order α, 1 < α < 2 which have been expressed in terms of Caputo Fractional Derivative (FD). In this scheme, the properties of the Caputo derivative are used to reduce an FDE into a Volterra type integral equation. The entire domain is divided into several small domains, and the distribution of the unknown function over the domain is expressed in terms of the function values and its slopes at the node points. These approximations are then substituted into the Volterra type integral equation to reduce it to algebraic equations. Since the method enforces the continuity of variables at the node points, it provides a solution that is continuous and with a slope that is also continuous over the entire domain. The method is used to solve a simple FDE using two different types of polynomials, namely cubic order and fractional order. Results obtained using both types of polynomials a...

A novel cobalt(II)-selective potentiometric sensor based on p-(4-n-butylphenylazo)calix[4]arene

Talanta, 2009

A new poly(vinyl chloride)-based membranes containing p-(4-n-butylphenylazo)calix[4]arene (I) as ... more A new poly(vinyl chloride)-based membranes containing p-(4-n-butylphenylazo)calix[4]arene (I) as an electroactive material along with sodiumtetraphenylborate (NaTPB), and dibutyl(butyl)phosphonate in the ratio 10:100:1:200 (I:DBBP:NaTPB:PVC) (w/w) was used to fabricate a new cobalt(II)-selective sensor. It exhibited a working concentration range of 9.2 × 10 −6 to 1.0 × 10 −1 M, with a Nernstian slope of 29.0 ± 1.0 mV/decade of activity and the response time of 25 s. This sensor shows the detection limit of 4.0 × 10 −6 M. Its potential response remains unaffected of pH in the range, 4.0-7.2, and the cell assembly can be used successfully in partially non-aqueous medium (up to 10%, v/v) without significant change in the slope of working concentration range. The sensor has a lifetime of about 3 months and exhibits excellent selectivity over a number of mono-, bi-, and tri-valent cations including alkali, alkaline earth metal, heavy and transition metal ions. It can be used as an indicator electrode for the end point determination in the potentiometric titration of cobalt ions against ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) as well as for the determination of cobalt ion concentration in real samples.

Potential anti-bacterial drug target: Structural characterization of 3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone-4-phosphate synthase from Salmonella typhimurium LT2

Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics, 2010

3,4-Dihydroxy-2-butanone-4-phosphate synthase (DHBPS) encoded by ribB gene is one of the first en... more 3,4-Dihydroxy-2-butanone-4-phosphate synthase (DHBPS) encoded by ribB gene is one of the first enzymes in riboflavin biosynthesis pathway and catalyzes the conversion of ribulose-5-phosphate (Ru5P) to 3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone-4-phosphate and formate. DHBPS is an attractive target for developing anti-bacterial drugs as this enzyme is essential for pathogens, but absent in humans. The recombinant DHBPS enzyme of Salmonella requires magnesium ion for its activity and catalyzes the formation of 3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone-4-phosphate from Ru5P at a rate of 199 nmol min(-1) mg(-1) with K(m) value of 116 μM at 37°C. Further, we have determined the crystal structures of Salmonella DHBPS in complex with sulfate, Ru5P and sulfate-zinc ion at a resolution of 2.80, 2.52, and 1.86 Å, respectively. Analysis of these crystal structures reveals that the acidic loop (residues 34-39) responsible for the acid-base catalysis is disordered in the absence of substrate or metal ion at the active site. Upon binding either substrate or sulfate and metal ions, the acidic loop becomes stabilized, adopts a closed conformation and interacts with the substrate. Our structure for the first time reveals that binding of substrate Ru5P alone is sufficient for the stabilization of the acidic active site loop into a closed conformation. In addition, the Glu38 residue from the acidic active site loop undergoes a conformational change upon Ru5P binding, which helps in positioning the second metal ion that stabilizes the Ru5P and the reaction intermediates. This is the first structural report of DHBPS in complex with either substrate or metal ion from any eubacteria.

Hypoxia Inactivates the VHL Tumor Suppressor through PIASy-Mediated SUMO Modification

PLoS ONE, 2010

The hypoxic microenvironment contributes to embryonic development and tumor progression through s... more The hypoxic microenvironment contributes to embryonic development and tumor progression through stabilization of the potent transcriptional factor HIFa. In normoxia, the tumor suppressor protein VHL acts as an E3 ubiquitin ligase to target HIFa for proteolytic destruction. Increasing evidence shows that VHL is a multifunctional adaptor involved in inhibition of HIFa-dependent and independent cellular processes. However, the molecular effect of hypoxic stress on VHL functions remains elusive. Here we report that PIASy, a SUMO E3 ligase upregulated in hypoxia, interacts with VHL and induces VHL SUMOylation on lysine residue 171. Moreover, PIASy-mediated SUMO1 modification induces VHL oligomerization and abrogates its inhibitory function on tumor cell growth, migration and clonogenicity. Knockdown of PIASy by small interfering RNA leads to reduction of VHL oligomerization and increases HIF1a degradation. These findings reveal a unique molecular strategy for inactivation of VHL under hypoxic stress.

Metastases suppressor NME2 associates with telomere ends and telomerase and reduces telomerase activity within cells

Nucleic Acids Research, 2011

Analysis of chromatin-immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) usually disregards se... more Analysis of chromatin-immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) usually disregards sequence reads that do not map within binding positions (peaks). Using an unbiased approach, we analysed all reads, both that mapped and ones that were not included as part of peaks. ChIP-seq experiments were performed in human lung adenocarcinoma and fibrosarcoma cells for the metastasis suppressor non-metastatic 2 (NME2). Surprisingly, we identified sequence reads that uniquely represented human telomere ends in both cases. In vivo presence of NME2 at telomere ends was validated using independent methods and as further evidence we found intranuclear association of NME2 and the telomere repeat binding factor 2. Most remarkably, results demonstrate that NME2 associates with telomerase and reduces telomerase activity in vitro and in vivo, and sustained NME2 expression resulted in reduced telomere length in aggressive human cancer cells. Anti-metastatic function of NME2 has been demonstrated in human cancers, however, mechanisms are poorly understood. Together, findings reported here suggest a novel role for NME2 as a telomere binding protein that can alter telomerase function and telomere length. This presents an opportunity to investigate telomere-related interactions in metastasis suppression.

Surface Polymer Stabilization by Reactive Mesogen in Optically Compensated Splay Mode

Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, 2011

We have studied the optically compensated splay (OCS) mode applied to polymer stabilization techn... more We have studied the optically compensated splay (OCS) mode applied to polymer stabilization technique using polymerization of reactive mesogen (RM) to reduce or eliminate critical voltage, setting voltage, and phase transition time from bend to splay state. The pretilt angle of almost vertically aligned liquid crystal directors could be lowered through the polymerization of UV-curable RM and applied voltage, at surfaces of vertical alignment layers. To confirm initial stable splay state, we investigated electro-optic characteristics according to concentration of RM in this paper.

Fokker–Planck equation analysis of randomly excited nonlinear energy harvester

Journal of Sound and Vibration, 2014

The probability structure of the response and energy harvested from a nonlinear oscillator subjec... more The probability structure of the response and energy harvested from a nonlinear oscillator subjected to white noise excitation is investigated by solution of the corresponding Fokker-Planck (FP) equation. The nonlinear oscillator is the classical double well potential Duffing oscillator corresponding to the first mode vibration of a cantilever beam suspended between permanent magnets and with bonded piezoelectric patches for purposes of energy harvesting. The FP equation of the coupled electromechanical system of equations is derived. The finite element method is used to solve the FP equation giving the joint probability density functions of the response as well as the voltage generated from the piezoelectric patches. The FE method is also applied to the nonlinear inductive energy harvester of Daqaq and the results are compared. The mean square response and voltage are obtained for different white noise intensities. The effects of the system parameters on the mean square voltage are studied. It is observed that the energy harvested can be enhanced by suitable choice of the excitation intensity and the parameters. The results of the FP approach agree very well with Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) results.

Analysis of Dielectric and Electro-optic Responses of Nanomaterials Doped Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Mixture

Journal of Materials Science & Technology, 2011

Dielectric and rotational viscosity measurements of a multi-component ferroelectric liquid crysta... more Dielectric and rotational viscosity measurements of a multi-component ferroelectric liquid crystal mixture were performed by adding a small concentration (0.01 wt%) of silica and multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Liquid crystals turn out to be outstanding hosts for nanomaterials. A remarkable increase in the rotational viscosity was noticed in CNT doped system as compared to silica doped same liquid crystal system. Comparison of dielectric studies shows higher value of permittivity and dielectric losses for silica-doped sample than those of CNT doped sample. The results have been interpreted both experimentally and theoretically.

The Effect of Silicon Content on Impact Toughness of T91 Grade Steels

Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance, 2008

The impact resistance of silicon (Si)-containing modified 9Cr-1Mo steels has been investigated wi... more The impact resistance of silicon (Si)-containing modified 9Cr-1Mo steels has been investigated within a temperature regime of 240 to 440°C using the Charpy method. The results indicate that the energies absorbed in fracturing the tested specimens were substantially lower at temperatures of 240, 25, and 75°C compared to those at elevated temperatures. Lower impact energies and higher ductile-to-brittle-transitiontemperatures (DBTTs) were observed with the steels containing 1.5 and 1.9 wt.% Si. The steels containing higher Si levels exhibited both ductile and brittle failures at elevated temperatures. However, at lower temperatures, brittle failures characterized by cleavage and intergranular cracking were observed for all four tested materials.

A novel Mg(II)-selective sensor based on 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(2-furyl)-21,23-dithiaporphyrin as an electroactive material

Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, 2011

A novel poly(vinyl chloride) based membrane containing 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(2-furyl)-21,23-dithiap... more A novel poly(vinyl chloride) based membrane containing 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(2-furyl)-21,23-dithiaporphyrin (I) as an electroactive material along with sodiumtetraphenylborate (NaTPB), and nitrophenyl octyl ether (NPOE) in the ratio 10:100:1:150 (I:NPOE:NaTPB:PVC) (w/w) was used to fabricate a Mg(II)-selective sensor. The developed sensor exhibits a wide working concentration range of 9.2 Â 10 À6-1.0 Â 10 À1 M, with a Nernstian slope of 30.0 ± 1.0 mV/decade of activity and the response time of 15 s. This sensor shows a detection limit of 8.0 Â 10 À6 M. Its potential response remains unaffected of pH in the range 4.0-8.4, and the cell assembly can be successfully used in partially non-aqueous medium (up to 10% v/v) without any significant change in the slope or working concentration range. The sensor has a lifetime of about 8 weeks and exhibits excellent selectivity over a number of mono-, bi-, and trivalent cations including alkali, alkaline earth metal, heavy and transition metal ions. It has also been used for the determination of magnesium ion concentration in real samples.

Simple sequence repeats in mycobacterial genomes

Journal of Biosciences, 2007

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) or microsatellites are the repetitive nucleotide sequences of moti... more Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) or microsatellites are the repetitive nucleotide sequences of motifs of length 1-6 bp. They are scattered throughout the genomes of all the known organisms ranging from viruses to eukaryotes. Microsatellites undergo mutations in the form of insertions and deletions (INDELS) of their repeat units with some bias towards insertions that lead to microsatellite tract expansion. Although prokaryotic genomes derive some plasticity due to microsatellite mutations they have in-built mechanisms to arrest undue expansions of microsatellites and one such mechanism is constituted by post-replicative DNA repair enzymes MutL, MutH and MutS. The mycobacterial genomes lack these enzymes and as a null hypothesis one could expect these genomes to harbour many long tracts. It is therefore interesting to analyse the mycobacterial genomes for distribution and abundance of microsatellites tracts and to look for potentially polymorphic microsatellites. Available mycobacterial genomes, Mycobacterium avium, M. leprae, M. bovis and the two strains of M. tuberculosis (CDC1551 and H37Rv) were analysed for frequencies and abundance of SSRs. Our analysis revealed that the SSRs are distributed throughout the mycobacterial genomes at an average of 220-230 SSR tracts per kb. All the mycobacterial genomes contain few regions that are conspicuously denser or poorer in microsatellites compared to their expected genome averages. The genomes distinctly show scarcity of long microsatellites despite the absence of a post-replicative DNA repair system. Such severe scarcity of long microsatellites could arise as a result of strong selection pressures operating against long and unstable sequences although infl uence of GC-content and role of point mutations in arresting microsatellite expansions can not be ruled out. Nonetheless, the long tracts occasionally found in coding as well as non-coding regions may account for limited genome plasticity in these genomes.

Effect of Sanitizers on PlanktonicEdwardsiella tardaIsolated from Asian Stinging CatfishHeteropneustes fossilis(Bloch 1794)

Journal of Aquatic Food Product Technology, 2012

Incidence of Edwardsiella tarda in Asian stinging catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch), and i... more Incidence of Edwardsiella tarda in Asian stinging catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch), and its sensitivity to antibiotics and sanitizers was studied. Five out of 10 representative lots of H. fossilis were positive for E. tarda. The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of sanitizers (hydrogen peroxide, glutaraldehyde, benzalkonium chloride, sodium hypochlorite, and iodophor) on planktonic E. tarda varied with strains, suspending media (distilled

Airway obstruction and ventilator dependency in young children with congenital cardiac defects: a role for self-expanding metal stents

Intensive Care Medicine, 2002

Objective: Young children with congenital cardiac defect and airway obstruction leading to ventil... more Objective: Young children with congenital cardiac defect and airway obstruction leading to ventilator dependency present a significant clinical challenge with uncertain outcome. Design: Retrospective review of our experience with selfexpanding metal stents in these young children between 1996-2000. Results: Airway stenting has been undertaken in five such children (four boys, one girl) at our institution. Their mean age was 7.4 months (range 2-14 months), and four of the five had undergone congenital cardiac surgery and could not be weaned from the ventilator following surgery. These five children were ventilator dependent for a mean of 112 days (range 40-210 days, median 71). A total of ten self-expanding metal stents were inserted (4-11 mm in diameter and 15-33 mm in length). The sites stented included the trachea (two stents), the left main bronchus (three stents) and the bronchus intermedius (five stents). Four

Cooperative Multitarget Tracking With Efficient Split and Merge Handling

IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 2006

For applications such as behavior recognition it is important to maintain the identity of multipl... more For applications such as behavior recognition it is important to maintain the identity of multiple targets, while tracking them in the presence of splits and merges, or occlusion of the targets by background obstacles. Here we propose an algorithm to handle multiple splits and merges of objects based on dynamic programming and a new geometric shape matching measure. We then cooperatively combine Kalman filter-based motion and shape tracking with the efficient and novel geometric shape matching algorithm. The system is fully automatic and requires no manual input of any kind for initialization of tracking. The target track initialization problem is formulated as computation of shortest paths in a directed and attributed graph using Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm. This scheme correctly initializes multiple target tracks for tracking even in the presence of clutter and segmentation errors which may occur in detecting a target. We present results on a large number of real world image sequences, where upto 17 objects have been tracked simultaneously in real-time, despite clutter, splits, and merges in measurements of objects. The complete tracking system including segmentation of moving objects works at 25 Hz on 352 288 pixel color image sequences on a 2.8-GHz Pentium-4 workstation.

Cervical mediastinoscopy after total laryngectomy and radiotherapy: its feasibility

European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, 2002

Objective: The feasibility of cervical mediastinoscopy after total laryngectomy and radiotherapy ... more Objective: The feasibility of cervical mediastinoscopy after total laryngectomy and radiotherapy has not been documented. Methods: We describe our experience with cervical mediastinoscopy in two patients with total laryngectomy and radiotherapy for squamous cell carcinoma and had a Blom-Singer speaking tracheostomy valve in situ. Both patients presented with mediastinal lymphadenopathy and radiographic features suggesting a new pulmonary malignancy. Results: Rigid bronchoscopy and cervical mediastinoscopy were undertaken and paratracheal and subcarinal lymph nodes were biopsied. Both patients made uneventful post operative recovery. Mediastinal lymph node biopsy was definitive in deciding their further care. Conclusion: Cervical mediastinoscopy is feasible in patients with total laryngectomy, tracheostomy and radiotherapy.

Successful resection of obstructing airway granulation tissue following lung transplantation using endobronchial laser (Nd:YAG) therapy

European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, 1997

Objective: Airway obstruction due to an excessive growth of granulation tissue at the level of th... more Objective: Airway obstruction due to an excessive growth of granulation tissue at the level of the anastomosis is an important complication following lung transplantation which requires early diagnosis and treatment. We report encouraging experience in the management of this condition using endobronchial Nd:YAG laser therapy. Methods: Four adult lung transplant recipients developed airway anastomotic obstruction secondary to granulation tissue formation at 9, 10, 32 and 32 days following bilateral sequential lung transplantation (2 patients), en bloc double lung transplantation (1 patient) and single lung transplantation (1 patient). The diameter of the airways at the level of the anastomoses was reduced by 75, 30, 60, 60, 50 and 90%, respectively. Endobronchial Nd:YAG laser was applied via a fiberoptic bronchoscope introduced through a rigid bronchoscope. The granulation tissue was visualised and resected with photcoagulation with the laser using between 1000-2000 J depending on the amount of tissue present. Necrotic tissue was removed with large forceps. If the obstruction extended to the orifice of a lobar bronchus resection was undertaken in a staged fashion. Results: Airway patency was fully restored at two anastomotic sites, and restored to 90% patency at two and 80 and 75% at one each, respectively. This was associated with a significant improvement in pulmonary function in 3 patients. One patient had a subsequent bougie dilatation of a stenotic area and 2 patients received an endobronchial stent for trachea or broncho-malacia. One patient died from a gastrointestinal haemorrhage. Three patients are well at 10, 17 and 18 months following transplantation and have had no further granulation tissue recurrence. There were no complications directly attributable to laser therapy. Conclusion: Our encouraging early experience leads us to suggest that Endobronchial Nd-YAG laser therapy should be considered in the management of airway anastomotic obstruction due to excessive granulation tissue formation after lung transplantation.

Synthesis, characterization, biological evaluation and QSAR studies of 11-p-substituted phenyl-12-phenyl-11a,12-dihydro-11H-indeno[2,1-c][1,5]benzothiazepines as potential antimicrobial agents

European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2012

A novel series of 11-p-substituted phenyl-12-phenyl-11a,12-dihydro-11H-indeno[2,1-c][1,5]benzothi... more A novel series of 11-p-substituted phenyl-12-phenyl-11a,12-dihydro-11H-indeno[2,1-c][1,5]benzothiazepines (3) has been synthesized and screened for their antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria and fungi (Aspergillus fumigates and Candida albicans). The antimicrobial evaluation data indicated that the compounds, 3d, 3g, 3h, 3k-3p exhibited very promising antibacterial activity and the derivatives 3k, 3l, 3o and 3p exhibited high antifungal activity. The QSAR studies carried out to find out the correlation between the antimicrobial activity and physicochemical properties of synthesized benzothiazepines (3) indicated the predominance of electronic parameters in describing their antimicrobial activity.

Study of Estimation of Stature by the Length of Femur

Journal of Evolution of medical and Dental Sciences, 2014

BACKGROUND: In the field of Forensic Medicine, one of the most useful pieces of information to be... more BACKGROUND: In the field of Forensic Medicine, one of the most useful pieces of information to be obtained from human skeleton remains, whatever their age is the living stature of the individual for the identification of a person. Status estimation by the length of femur plays an important role in the identification of a decomposed body. AIMS: Study was done to estimate the stature of an individual by the length of femur. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in the department of Forensic Medicine of Patna Medical College, Patna, during the period of Dec-13 to Jan-14. A total of 80 cases (40 rural males and 40 rural females), were studied. RESULTS: The results of present study showed that there was a definite relationship between the length of femur and cadaveric length. It was also clear from this study that prediction of stature is also influenced by sex and racial factor. CONCLUSION: The present work indicates that all the segments of femur have a definite relation with ...

Hydroelectric Energy Using Prediction Technique of Flood in River "Based on Fuzzy Rule Scheme

International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering Research and Development, 2020

Flood can be used for generating Hydraulic energy so with the change in the approach of geographi... more Flood can be used for generating Hydraulic energy so with the change in the approach of geographical study various techniques and models are brought to the subject in the present day global context. It has become more common in catchments study. In water resource management, flood control, land use planning and processes of ground water management Stimulation of rainfall and discharge processes is very important. As the flood is very common and more vulnerable for us, fuzzy guideline-based models can help to predict and forecast the flood. The discharge phenomenon of Jiadhal basin of Dhemaji District is very complex. The factors like rainfall, soil types, vegetation etc, with their varying characteristics, influence the volume of discharge. In this prospect, an effort is made to apply fuzzy guideline-based model to predict and forecast the flood of Jiadhal basin.

Kotia, A., P. Kumar, U. K. L. Tewari, A. N. Prasad and G. S. Rawat. 2010. New distribution records of some Orchids from Chhatishgarh state (Kanger Valley National Park), India. The Indian Forester, 136 (1): 354 – 358

Numerical Scheme for the Solution of Fractional Differential Equations of Order Greater Than 1

Volume 6: 5th International Conference on Multibody Systems, Nonlinear Dynamics, and Control, Parts A, B, and C, 2005

This paper presents a numerical scheme for the solutions of Fractional Differential Equations (FD... more This paper presents a numerical scheme for the solutions of Fractional Differential Equations (FDEs) of order α, 1 < α < 2 which have been expressed in terms of Caputo Fractional Derivative (FD). In this scheme, the properties of the Caputo derivative are used to reduce an FDE into a Volterra type integral equation. The entire domain is divided into several small domains, and the distribution of the unknown function over the domain is expressed in terms of the function values and its slopes at the node points. These approximations are then substituted into the Volterra type integral equation to reduce it to algebraic equations. Since the method enforces the continuity of variables at the node points, it provides a solution that is continuous and with a slope that is also continuous over the entire domain. The method is used to solve a simple FDE using two different types of polynomials, namely cubic order and fractional order. Results obtained using both types of polynomials a...

A novel cobalt(II)-selective potentiometric sensor based on p-(4-n-butylphenylazo)calix[4]arene

Talanta, 2009

A new poly(vinyl chloride)-based membranes containing p-(4-n-butylphenylazo)calix[4]arene (I) as ... more A new poly(vinyl chloride)-based membranes containing p-(4-n-butylphenylazo)calix[4]arene (I) as an electroactive material along with sodiumtetraphenylborate (NaTPB), and dibutyl(butyl)phosphonate in the ratio 10:100:1:200 (I:DBBP:NaTPB:PVC) (w/w) was used to fabricate a new cobalt(II)-selective sensor. It exhibited a working concentration range of 9.2 × 10 −6 to 1.0 × 10 −1 M, with a Nernstian slope of 29.0 ± 1.0 mV/decade of activity and the response time of 25 s. This sensor shows the detection limit of 4.0 × 10 −6 M. Its potential response remains unaffected of pH in the range, 4.0-7.2, and the cell assembly can be used successfully in partially non-aqueous medium (up to 10%, v/v) without significant change in the slope of working concentration range. The sensor has a lifetime of about 3 months and exhibits excellent selectivity over a number of mono-, bi-, and tri-valent cations including alkali, alkaline earth metal, heavy and transition metal ions. It can be used as an indicator electrode for the end point determination in the potentiometric titration of cobalt ions against ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) as well as for the determination of cobalt ion concentration in real samples.

Potential anti-bacterial drug target: Structural characterization of 3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone-4-phosphate synthase from Salmonella typhimurium LT2

Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics, 2010

3,4-Dihydroxy-2-butanone-4-phosphate synthase (DHBPS) encoded by ribB gene is one of the first en... more 3,4-Dihydroxy-2-butanone-4-phosphate synthase (DHBPS) encoded by ribB gene is one of the first enzymes in riboflavin biosynthesis pathway and catalyzes the conversion of ribulose-5-phosphate (Ru5P) to 3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone-4-phosphate and formate. DHBPS is an attractive target for developing anti-bacterial drugs as this enzyme is essential for pathogens, but absent in humans. The recombinant DHBPS enzyme of Salmonella requires magnesium ion for its activity and catalyzes the formation of 3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone-4-phosphate from Ru5P at a rate of 199 nmol min(-1) mg(-1) with K(m) value of 116 μM at 37°C. Further, we have determined the crystal structures of Salmonella DHBPS in complex with sulfate, Ru5P and sulfate-zinc ion at a resolution of 2.80, 2.52, and 1.86 Å, respectively. Analysis of these crystal structures reveals that the acidic loop (residues 34-39) responsible for the acid-base catalysis is disordered in the absence of substrate or metal ion at the active site. Upon binding either substrate or sulfate and metal ions, the acidic loop becomes stabilized, adopts a closed conformation and interacts with the substrate. Our structure for the first time reveals that binding of substrate Ru5P alone is sufficient for the stabilization of the acidic active site loop into a closed conformation. In addition, the Glu38 residue from the acidic active site loop undergoes a conformational change upon Ru5P binding, which helps in positioning the second metal ion that stabilizes the Ru5P and the reaction intermediates. This is the first structural report of DHBPS in complex with either substrate or metal ion from any eubacteria.

Hypoxia Inactivates the VHL Tumor Suppressor through PIASy-Mediated SUMO Modification

PLoS ONE, 2010

The hypoxic microenvironment contributes to embryonic development and tumor progression through s... more The hypoxic microenvironment contributes to embryonic development and tumor progression through stabilization of the potent transcriptional factor HIFa. In normoxia, the tumor suppressor protein VHL acts as an E3 ubiquitin ligase to target HIFa for proteolytic destruction. Increasing evidence shows that VHL is a multifunctional adaptor involved in inhibition of HIFa-dependent and independent cellular processes. However, the molecular effect of hypoxic stress on VHL functions remains elusive. Here we report that PIASy, a SUMO E3 ligase upregulated in hypoxia, interacts with VHL and induces VHL SUMOylation on lysine residue 171. Moreover, PIASy-mediated SUMO1 modification induces VHL oligomerization and abrogates its inhibitory function on tumor cell growth, migration and clonogenicity. Knockdown of PIASy by small interfering RNA leads to reduction of VHL oligomerization and increases HIF1a degradation. These findings reveal a unique molecular strategy for inactivation of VHL under hypoxic stress.

Metastases suppressor NME2 associates with telomere ends and telomerase and reduces telomerase activity within cells

Nucleic Acids Research, 2011

Analysis of chromatin-immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) usually disregards se... more Analysis of chromatin-immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) usually disregards sequence reads that do not map within binding positions (peaks). Using an unbiased approach, we analysed all reads, both that mapped and ones that were not included as part of peaks. ChIP-seq experiments were performed in human lung adenocarcinoma and fibrosarcoma cells for the metastasis suppressor non-metastatic 2 (NME2). Surprisingly, we identified sequence reads that uniquely represented human telomere ends in both cases. In vivo presence of NME2 at telomere ends was validated using independent methods and as further evidence we found intranuclear association of NME2 and the telomere repeat binding factor 2. Most remarkably, results demonstrate that NME2 associates with telomerase and reduces telomerase activity in vitro and in vivo, and sustained NME2 expression resulted in reduced telomere length in aggressive human cancer cells. Anti-metastatic function of NME2 has been demonstrated in human cancers, however, mechanisms are poorly understood. Together, findings reported here suggest a novel role for NME2 as a telomere binding protein that can alter telomerase function and telomere length. This presents an opportunity to investigate telomere-related interactions in metastasis suppression.

Surface Polymer Stabilization by Reactive Mesogen in Optically Compensated Splay Mode

Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, 2011

We have studied the optically compensated splay (OCS) mode applied to polymer stabilization techn... more We have studied the optically compensated splay (OCS) mode applied to polymer stabilization technique using polymerization of reactive mesogen (RM) to reduce or eliminate critical voltage, setting voltage, and phase transition time from bend to splay state. The pretilt angle of almost vertically aligned liquid crystal directors could be lowered through the polymerization of UV-curable RM and applied voltage, at surfaces of vertical alignment layers. To confirm initial stable splay state, we investigated electro-optic characteristics according to concentration of RM in this paper.

Fokker–Planck equation analysis of randomly excited nonlinear energy harvester

Journal of Sound and Vibration, 2014

The probability structure of the response and energy harvested from a nonlinear oscillator subjec... more The probability structure of the response and energy harvested from a nonlinear oscillator subjected to white noise excitation is investigated by solution of the corresponding Fokker-Planck (FP) equation. The nonlinear oscillator is the classical double well potential Duffing oscillator corresponding to the first mode vibration of a cantilever beam suspended between permanent magnets and with bonded piezoelectric patches for purposes of energy harvesting. The FP equation of the coupled electromechanical system of equations is derived. The finite element method is used to solve the FP equation giving the joint probability density functions of the response as well as the voltage generated from the piezoelectric patches. The FE method is also applied to the nonlinear inductive energy harvester of Daqaq and the results are compared. The mean square response and voltage are obtained for different white noise intensities. The effects of the system parameters on the mean square voltage are studied. It is observed that the energy harvested can be enhanced by suitable choice of the excitation intensity and the parameters. The results of the FP approach agree very well with Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) results.

Analysis of Dielectric and Electro-optic Responses of Nanomaterials Doped Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Mixture

Journal of Materials Science & Technology, 2011

Dielectric and rotational viscosity measurements of a multi-component ferroelectric liquid crysta... more Dielectric and rotational viscosity measurements of a multi-component ferroelectric liquid crystal mixture were performed by adding a small concentration (0.01 wt%) of silica and multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Liquid crystals turn out to be outstanding hosts for nanomaterials. A remarkable increase in the rotational viscosity was noticed in CNT doped system as compared to silica doped same liquid crystal system. Comparison of dielectric studies shows higher value of permittivity and dielectric losses for silica-doped sample than those of CNT doped sample. The results have been interpreted both experimentally and theoretically.

The Effect of Silicon Content on Impact Toughness of T91 Grade Steels

Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance, 2008

The impact resistance of silicon (Si)-containing modified 9Cr-1Mo steels has been investigated wi... more The impact resistance of silicon (Si)-containing modified 9Cr-1Mo steels has been investigated within a temperature regime of 240 to 440°C using the Charpy method. The results indicate that the energies absorbed in fracturing the tested specimens were substantially lower at temperatures of 240, 25, and 75°C compared to those at elevated temperatures. Lower impact energies and higher ductile-to-brittle-transitiontemperatures (DBTTs) were observed with the steels containing 1.5 and 1.9 wt.% Si. The steels containing higher Si levels exhibited both ductile and brittle failures at elevated temperatures. However, at lower temperatures, brittle failures characterized by cleavage and intergranular cracking were observed for all four tested materials.

A novel Mg(II)-selective sensor based on 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(2-furyl)-21,23-dithiaporphyrin as an electroactive material

Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, 2011

A novel poly(vinyl chloride) based membrane containing 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(2-furyl)-21,23-dithiap... more A novel poly(vinyl chloride) based membrane containing 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(2-furyl)-21,23-dithiaporphyrin (I) as an electroactive material along with sodiumtetraphenylborate (NaTPB), and nitrophenyl octyl ether (NPOE) in the ratio 10:100:1:150 (I:NPOE:NaTPB:PVC) (w/w) was used to fabricate a Mg(II)-selective sensor. The developed sensor exhibits a wide working concentration range of 9.2 Â 10 À6-1.0 Â 10 À1 M, with a Nernstian slope of 30.0 ± 1.0 mV/decade of activity and the response time of 15 s. This sensor shows a detection limit of 8.0 Â 10 À6 M. Its potential response remains unaffected of pH in the range 4.0-8.4, and the cell assembly can be successfully used in partially non-aqueous medium (up to 10% v/v) without any significant change in the slope or working concentration range. The sensor has a lifetime of about 8 weeks and exhibits excellent selectivity over a number of mono-, bi-, and trivalent cations including alkali, alkaline earth metal, heavy and transition metal ions. It has also been used for the determination of magnesium ion concentration in real samples.

Simple sequence repeats in mycobacterial genomes

Journal of Biosciences, 2007

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) or microsatellites are the repetitive nucleotide sequences of moti... more Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) or microsatellites are the repetitive nucleotide sequences of motifs of length 1-6 bp. They are scattered throughout the genomes of all the known organisms ranging from viruses to eukaryotes. Microsatellites undergo mutations in the form of insertions and deletions (INDELS) of their repeat units with some bias towards insertions that lead to microsatellite tract expansion. Although prokaryotic genomes derive some plasticity due to microsatellite mutations they have in-built mechanisms to arrest undue expansions of microsatellites and one such mechanism is constituted by post-replicative DNA repair enzymes MutL, MutH and MutS. The mycobacterial genomes lack these enzymes and as a null hypothesis one could expect these genomes to harbour many long tracts. It is therefore interesting to analyse the mycobacterial genomes for distribution and abundance of microsatellites tracts and to look for potentially polymorphic microsatellites. Available mycobacterial genomes, Mycobacterium avium, M. leprae, M. bovis and the two strains of M. tuberculosis (CDC1551 and H37Rv) were analysed for frequencies and abundance of SSRs. Our analysis revealed that the SSRs are distributed throughout the mycobacterial genomes at an average of 220-230 SSR tracts per kb. All the mycobacterial genomes contain few regions that are conspicuously denser or poorer in microsatellites compared to their expected genome averages. The genomes distinctly show scarcity of long microsatellites despite the absence of a post-replicative DNA repair system. Such severe scarcity of long microsatellites could arise as a result of strong selection pressures operating against long and unstable sequences although infl uence of GC-content and role of point mutations in arresting microsatellite expansions can not be ruled out. Nonetheless, the long tracts occasionally found in coding as well as non-coding regions may account for limited genome plasticity in these genomes.

Effect of Sanitizers on PlanktonicEdwardsiella tardaIsolated from Asian Stinging CatfishHeteropneustes fossilis(Bloch 1794)

Journal of Aquatic Food Product Technology, 2012

Incidence of Edwardsiella tarda in Asian stinging catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch), and i... more Incidence of Edwardsiella tarda in Asian stinging catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch), and its sensitivity to antibiotics and sanitizers was studied. Five out of 10 representative lots of H. fossilis were positive for E. tarda. The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of sanitizers (hydrogen peroxide, glutaraldehyde, benzalkonium chloride, sodium hypochlorite, and iodophor) on planktonic E. tarda varied with strains, suspending media (distilled

Airway obstruction and ventilator dependency in young children with congenital cardiac defects: a role for self-expanding metal stents

Intensive Care Medicine, 2002

Objective: Young children with congenital cardiac defect and airway obstruction leading to ventil... more Objective: Young children with congenital cardiac defect and airway obstruction leading to ventilator dependency present a significant clinical challenge with uncertain outcome. Design: Retrospective review of our experience with selfexpanding metal stents in these young children between 1996-2000. Results: Airway stenting has been undertaken in five such children (four boys, one girl) at our institution. Their mean age was 7.4 months (range 2-14 months), and four of the five had undergone congenital cardiac surgery and could not be weaned from the ventilator following surgery. These five children were ventilator dependent for a mean of 112 days (range 40-210 days, median 71). A total of ten self-expanding metal stents were inserted (4-11 mm in diameter and 15-33 mm in length). The sites stented included the trachea (two stents), the left main bronchus (three stents) and the bronchus intermedius (five stents). Four

Cooperative Multitarget Tracking With Efficient Split and Merge Handling

IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 2006

For applications such as behavior recognition it is important to maintain the identity of multipl... more For applications such as behavior recognition it is important to maintain the identity of multiple targets, while tracking them in the presence of splits and merges, or occlusion of the targets by background obstacles. Here we propose an algorithm to handle multiple splits and merges of objects based on dynamic programming and a new geometric shape matching measure. We then cooperatively combine Kalman filter-based motion and shape tracking with the efficient and novel geometric shape matching algorithm. The system is fully automatic and requires no manual input of any kind for initialization of tracking. The target track initialization problem is formulated as computation of shortest paths in a directed and attributed graph using Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm. This scheme correctly initializes multiple target tracks for tracking even in the presence of clutter and segmentation errors which may occur in detecting a target. We present results on a large number of real world image sequences, where upto 17 objects have been tracked simultaneously in real-time, despite clutter, splits, and merges in measurements of objects. The complete tracking system including segmentation of moving objects works at 25 Hz on 352 288 pixel color image sequences on a 2.8-GHz Pentium-4 workstation.

Cervical mediastinoscopy after total laryngectomy and radiotherapy: its feasibility

European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, 2002

Objective: The feasibility of cervical mediastinoscopy after total laryngectomy and radiotherapy ... more Objective: The feasibility of cervical mediastinoscopy after total laryngectomy and radiotherapy has not been documented. Methods: We describe our experience with cervical mediastinoscopy in two patients with total laryngectomy and radiotherapy for squamous cell carcinoma and had a Blom-Singer speaking tracheostomy valve in situ. Both patients presented with mediastinal lymphadenopathy and radiographic features suggesting a new pulmonary malignancy. Results: Rigid bronchoscopy and cervical mediastinoscopy were undertaken and paratracheal and subcarinal lymph nodes were biopsied. Both patients made uneventful post operative recovery. Mediastinal lymph node biopsy was definitive in deciding their further care. Conclusion: Cervical mediastinoscopy is feasible in patients with total laryngectomy, tracheostomy and radiotherapy.

Successful resection of obstructing airway granulation tissue following lung transplantation using endobronchial laser (Nd:YAG) therapy

European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, 1997

Objective: Airway obstruction due to an excessive growth of granulation tissue at the level of th... more Objective: Airway obstruction due to an excessive growth of granulation tissue at the level of the anastomosis is an important complication following lung transplantation which requires early diagnosis and treatment. We report encouraging experience in the management of this condition using endobronchial Nd:YAG laser therapy. Methods: Four adult lung transplant recipients developed airway anastomotic obstruction secondary to granulation tissue formation at 9, 10, 32 and 32 days following bilateral sequential lung transplantation (2 patients), en bloc double lung transplantation (1 patient) and single lung transplantation (1 patient). The diameter of the airways at the level of the anastomoses was reduced by 75, 30, 60, 60, 50 and 90%, respectively. Endobronchial Nd:YAG laser was applied via a fiberoptic bronchoscope introduced through a rigid bronchoscope. The granulation tissue was visualised and resected with photcoagulation with the laser using between 1000-2000 J depending on the amount of tissue present. Necrotic tissue was removed with large forceps. If the obstruction extended to the orifice of a lobar bronchus resection was undertaken in a staged fashion. Results: Airway patency was fully restored at two anastomotic sites, and restored to 90% patency at two and 80 and 75% at one each, respectively. This was associated with a significant improvement in pulmonary function in 3 patients. One patient had a subsequent bougie dilatation of a stenotic area and 2 patients received an endobronchial stent for trachea or broncho-malacia. One patient died from a gastrointestinal haemorrhage. Three patients are well at 10, 17 and 18 months following transplantation and have had no further granulation tissue recurrence. There were no complications directly attributable to laser therapy. Conclusion: Our encouraging early experience leads us to suggest that Endobronchial Nd-YAG laser therapy should be considered in the management of airway anastomotic obstruction due to excessive granulation tissue formation after lung transplantation.