Survey of Advanced Nonlinear Control Strategies for UAVs: Integration of Sensors and Hybrid Techniques.

This survey paper explores advanced nonlinear control strategies for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), including systems such as the Twin Rotor MIMO system (TRMS) and quadrotors. UAVs, with their high nonlinearity and significant coupling effects, serve as crucial benchmarks for testing control algorithms. Integration of sophisticated sensors enhances UAV versatility, making traditional linear control techniques less effective. Advanced nonlinear strategies, including sensor-based adaptive controls and AI, are increasingly essential. Recent years have seen the development of diverse sliding surface-based, sensor-driven, and hybrid control strategies for UAVs, offering superior performance over linear methods. This paper reviews the significance of these strategies, emphasizing their role in addressing UAV complexities and outlining future research directions.

EOTE-FSC: An efficient offloaded task execution for fog enabled smart cities.

Smart cities provide ease in lifestyle to their community members with the help of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). It provides better water, waste and energy management, enhances the security and safety of its citizens and offers better health facilities. Most of these applications are based on IoT-based sensor networks, that are deployed in different areas of applications according to their demand. Due to limited processing capabilities, sensor nodes cannot process multiple tasks simultaneously and need to offload some of their tasks to remotely placed cloud servers, which may cause delays. To reduce the delay, computing nodes are placed in different vicinitys acting as fog-computing nodes are used, to execute the offloaded tasks. It has been observed that the offloaded tasks are not uniformly received by fog computing nodes and some fog nodes may receive more tasks as some may receive less number of tasks. This may cause an increase in overall task execution time. Furthermore, these tasks comprise different priority levels and must be executed before their deadline. In this work, an Efficient Offloaded Task Execution for Fog enabled Smart cities (EOTE - FSC) is proposed. EOTE - FSC proposes a load balancing mechanism by modifying the greedy algorithm to efficiently distribute the offloaded tasks to its attached fog nodes to reduce the overall task execution time. This results in the successful execution of most of the tasks within their deadline. In addition, EOTE - FSC modifies the task sequencing with a deadline algorithm for the fog node to optimally execute the offloaded tasks in such a way that most of the high-priority tasks are entertained. The load balancing results of EOTE - FSC are compared with state-of-the-art well-known Round Robin, Greedy, Round Robin with longest job first, and Round Robin with shortest job first algorithms. However, fog computing results of EOTE - FSC are compared with the First Come First Serve algorithm. The results show that the EOTE - FSC effectively offloaded the tasks on fog nodes and the maximum load on the fog computing nodes is reduced up to 29%, 27.3%, 23%, and 24.4% as compared to Round Robin, Greedy, Round Robin with LJF and Round Robin with SJF algorithms respectively. However, task execution in the proposed EOTE - FSC executes a maximum number of offloaded high-priority tasks as compared to the FCFS algorithm within the same computing capacity of fog nodes.

Malaria Slide Bank to Strengthen and Improve the Quality of Malaria Diagnosis: A National Slide Repository in India.

Malaria elimination is one of the top health care priorities in India, necessitating accessible and accurate diagnosis for effective treatment. A malaria slide bank in India is a collection of quality-controlled malaria-positive and -negative slides and is considered a vital asset for quality diagnosis. The collection of blood samples, preparation of blood smears, staining, quality control, molecular characterizations, and slide validation were carried out according to standard operating procedures in accordance with the WHO reference laboratory. The true count and parasite density per microliter were computed in accordance with WHO guidelines. Over 27 months, 48 batches (8,196 slides) were prepared. Overall, the majority of slide batches were Plasmodium vivax (45.9%; 22/48), followed by Plasmodium falciparum (25%; 12/48), malaria-negative infections (25%; 12/48), and mixed infections (4.1%; 2/48). All 48 batches passed internal validation by WHO-certified level-1 microscopists. For a batch, the true count was the median of the validators' counts (range, 111-280,795 parasites/µL). Except for mixed infections, the PCR results agreed with the verified microscopy results. Malaria slide bank slides would be a valuable tool for quality control, assurance, and microscopist training.

Secure Computing for Fog-Enabled Industrial IoT.

Smart cities are powered by several new technologies to enhance connectivity between devices and develop a network of connected objects which can lead to many smart industrial applications. This network known as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) consists of sensor nodes that have limited computing capacity and are sometimes not able to execute intricate industrial tasks within their stipulated time frame. For faster execution, these tasks are offloaded to nearby fog nodes. Internet access and the diverse nature of network types make IIoT nodes vulnerable and are under serious malicious attacks. Malicious attacks can cause anomalies in the IIoT network by overloading complex tasks, which can compromise the fog processing capabilities. This results in an increased delay of task computation for trustworthy nodes. To improve the task execution capability of the fog computing node, it is important to avoid complex offloaded tasks due to malicious attacks. However, even after avoiding the malicious tasks, if the offloaded tasks are too complex for the fog node to execute, then the fog nodes may struggle to process all legitimate tasks within their stipulated time frame. To address these challenges, the Trust-based Efficient Execution of Offloaded IIoT Trusted tasks (EEOIT) is proposed for fog nodes. EEOIT proposes a mechanism to detect malicious nodes as well as manage the allocation of computing resources so that IIoT tasks can be completed in the specified time frame. Simulation results demonstrate that EEOIT outperforms other techniques in the literature in an IIoT setting with different task densities. Another significant feature of the proposed EEOIT technique is that it enhances the computation of trustable tasks in the network. The results show that EEOIT entertains more legitimate nodes in executing their offloaded tasks with more executed data, with reduced time and with increased mean trust values as compared to other schemes.

Data-driven set-point learning control with ESO and RBFNN for nonlinear batch processes subject to nonrepetitive uncertainties.

This paper proposes an extended state observer (ESO) based data-driven set-point learning control (DDSPLC) scheme for a class of nonlinear batch processes with a priori P-type feedback control structure subject to nonrepetitive uncertainties, by only using the process input and output data available in practice. Firstly, the unknown process dynamics is equivalently transformed into an iterative dynamic linearization data model (IDLDM) with a residual term. A radial basis function neural network is adopted to estimate the pseudo partial derivative information related to IDLDM, and meanwhile, a data-driven iterative ESO is constructed to estimate the unknown residual term along the batch direction. Then, an adaptive set-point learning control law is designed to merely regulate the set-point command of the closed-loop control structure for realizing batch optimization. Robust convergence of the output tracking error along the batch direction is rigorously analyzed by using the contraction mapping approach and mathematical induction. Finally, two illustrative examples from the literature are used to validate the effectiveness and advantage of the proposed design.

Flow Boiling of Liquid n-Heptane in Microtube with Various Fuel Flow Rate: Experimental and Numerical Study.

The evaporation of liquid hydrocarbon n-heptane is discussed in detail with experimentation and numerical techniques. A maximum wall temperature of 1050 K was reported during an experimental process with a two-phase flow that was stable and had a prominent meniscus at a small fuel flow rate (FFR) ≤ 10 µL/min. At medium to high FFR (30-70 µL/min), the flow field was unstable, with nucleating bubbles and liquid droplets inside the microtube and the maximum temperature recorded was 850 K for 70 µL/min. For the numerical model, the temperature of the wall was used as a boundary condition. Using the numerical model, the evaporative flux at the meniscus, pressure drop, pressure oscillation, and heat transfer coefficient (HTC) were investigated. A single peak in HTC was obtained at a low fuel flow rate, while multiple peaks were obtained for high FFR. At low FFR, the pressure peak was observed to be 102.4 KPa, whereas at high FFR, the pressure peak increased to 105.5 KPa. This shows a 2% increase in pressure peak with an increase in FFR. Similarly, when the FFR increased from 5 µL/min to 70 µL/min, the pressure drop increased from 500 Pa to 2800 Pa. The high amplitude of pressure drops and a high peak of HTC were found, which depend on the mass flow rate. The coefficient of variation for pressure drop depends mainly on the fuel flow rate.

Thermal Management of Microelectronic Devices Using Nanofluid with Metal foam Heat Sink.

Microelectronic components are used in a variety of applications that range from processing units to smart devices. These components are prone to malfunctions at high temperatures exceeding 373 K in the form of heat dissipation. To resolve this issue, in microelectronic components, a cooling system is required. This issue can be better dealt with by using a combination of metal foam, heat sinks, and nanofluids. This study investigates the effect of using a rectangular-finned heat sink integrated with metal foam between the fins, and different water-based nanofluids as the working fluid for cooling purposes. A 3D numerical model of the metal foam with a BCC-unit cell structure is used. Various parameters are analyzed: temperature, pressure drop, overall heat transfer coefficient, Nusselt number, and flow rate. Fluid flows through the metal foam in a turbulent flow with a Reynold's number ranging from 2100 to 6500. The optimum fin height, thickness, spacing, and base thickness for the heat sink are analyzed, and for the metal foam, the material, porosity, and pore density are investigated. In addition, the volume fraction, nanoparticle material, and flow rate for the nanofluid is obtained. The results showed that the use of metal foam enhanced the thermal performance of the heat sink, and nanofluids provided better thermal management than pure water. For both cases, a higher Nusselt number, overall heat transfer coefficient, and better temperature reduction is achieved. CuO nanofluid and high-porosity low-pore-density metal foam provided the optimum results, namely a base temperature of 314 K, compared to 341 K, with a pressure drop of 130 Pa. A trade-off was achieved between the temperature reduction and pumping power, as higher concentrations of nanofluid provided better thermal management and resulted in a large pressure drop.

Updates on drug designing approach through computational strategies: a review.

The drug discovery and development (DDD) process in pursuit of novel drug candidates is a challenging procedure requiring lots of time and resources. Therefore, computer-aided drug design (CADD) methodologies are used extensively to promote proficiency in drug development in a systematic and time-effective manner. The point in reference is SARS-CoV-2 which has emerged as a global pandemic. In the absence of any confirmed drug moiety to treat the infection, the science fraternity adopted hit and trial methods to come up with a lead drug compound. This article is an overview of the virtual methodologies, which assist in finding novel hits and help in the progression of drug development in a short period with a specific medicinal solution.

An extensive survey of technological applications in drug discovery and development, encompassing offline and online approaches, is presented in this review. The span of research issues that can be tackled using these advances is vast, opening new horizons for future innovations. The article is designed to incite further research investments into drug development procedures and bridge existing research voids by outlining multiple pharmaceutical products that resulted from employing systematic computational methodologies.

On numerical solution of boundary layer flow of viscous incompressible fluid past an inclined stretching sheet in porous medium and heat transfer using spline technique.

In this paper, the boundary layer flow of viscous incompressible fluid over an inclined stretching plate in porous media with body force and heat transfer has been studied. To solve this problem, we develop a suitable spline method which is used to calculate the velocity function of the flow problem. We proceed as follows:•With a suitable stream function, the concerned boundary layer equation is converted into non-linear third order ordinary differential equation together with appropriate boundary conditions in an infinite domain which has been further linearized by using quasi-linearization method.•Then, we develop a non polynomial quintic spline technique which has been used to find the numerical values of the velocity function of the flow problem. The convergence analysis of the developed spline technique has been discussed.•Later, the method developed so far has been applied to solve nonlinear boundary value problem for different angles of inclination and Froude number. The values obtained so far have been used to study heat flow problem. Finally, skin friction has been discussed.

Photosynthetic Parameters and Oxidative Stress during Acclimation of Crepe-Myrtle (Lagerstroemia speciosa (L.) Pers.) in a meta-Topolin-Based Micropropagation System and Genetic Fidelity of Regenerated Plants.

An improved and stable micropropagation system using the cytokinin, meta-Topolin (N6 (3-hydroxybenzylamino purine-mT), with nodal explants in Lagerstroemia speciosa L. was established. Among the different doses of mT, the maximum number of shoots with the highest shoot length was obtained using Murashige and Skoog's (MS) medium supplemented with 5.0 µM mT. The results were consistent throughout the proliferation period, when recorded at week 4, 8, and 12 of being cultured, with an average of 16.4 shoots per nodal explant, and having a mean length of 4.10 cm at week 8. Shoot proliferation rates could be further improved by a combination of 5.0 µM mT with 0.5 µM α-naphthalene acetic acid in MS medium; nodal explants produced an average of 24.3 shoots with a mean length of 5.74 cm after 8 weeks of being cultured. Among the five different concentrations of three auxins tested for the rooting of microshoots in MS medium, a 1.0 µM indole-3-butyric acid treatment was the best, with an average of 10.3 roots per microshoot at an average length of 3.56 cm in 93% of microshoots within 4 weeks of being transferred to this medium. A significant reduction of both chlorophyll a and b in leaves during the first week of acclimation corresponded with a high accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDH), indicating that lipid peroxidation affected chlorophyll pigments. From the second week of acclimation, photosynthetic pigment content significantly increased and MDH content decreased. The net photosynthetic rate and leaf carotenoid content showed almost linear increases throughout the acclimation period. Activity of antioxidant enzymes, namely, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and peroxidases, consistently increased throughout the acclimation period, corresponding with the accumulation of photosynthetic pigments, thus demonstrating the role of the improved antioxidant enzymatic defense system during acclimation. A comparison of parent plant DNA with that of the greenhouse acclimated plants using random amplified polymorphic DNA and inter-simple sequence repeat markers showed a monomorphic pattern indicating genetic stability and the suitability of the method for micropropagation of L. speciosa.

Rasagiline Pharmacokinetics in CYP1A2 Variant Healthy Smokers & Non-smokers in Different Doses.

Objectives: Rasagiline, a drug for Parkinson's disease is metabolized by CYP1A2 enzyme. The objective of the study was to investigate the influence of cytochrome P450 1A2 variants and smoking status of healthy individuals on the pharmacokinetics of rasagiline. Methods: A comparative, open label, interventional, single oral dose, pharmacokinetic study was performed on 108 healthy volunteers in UHS & UVAS, Lahore. Data collection was initiated in June 2016 and ended in January 2018. It was divided in three phases with 1, 2 and 5mg of rasagiline given to a group of 36 volunteers in each phase. Volunteers were sub-divided into six groups of AA smokers, AA non-smokers, AC smokers, AC non-smokers, CC smokers & CC non-smokers on the basis of genotyping and smoking status. Serial blood sampling was performed at 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 & 12 hours after administration of rasagiline tablets. Plasma concentrations were determined using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method. Pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters were calculated using software (APO) pharmacological analysis. Results: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant difference between AA and CC groups. Multiple group comparison with post hoc Tukey's revealed that AA-smokers had significantly less tmax (p<0.001), t1/2 (p<0.012), AUC (p<0.008) and highest Cl (p<0.001) as compared to CC-smokers. The trend was same across all three doses. Conclusion: The study concludes that the systemic metabolism of rasagiline is significantly increased in CYP1A2*AA variants while smoking status did not show consistent difference in PK parameters.

Chemical Characterization, In-silico Evaluation, and Molecular Docking Analysis of Antiproliferative Compounds Isolated from the Bark of Anthocephalus cadamba Miq.

AIMS: The present study aimed to isolate and characterize chemical compounds from Anthocephalus cadamba Miq. bark and evaluate their anticancer activity by in silico, molecular docking, and in vitro studies. BACKGROUND: Anthocephalus cadamba is a traditionally used Indian medicinal plant. The anticancer and phytochemical properties of this plant remain unexplored except for a few studies. OBJECTIVES: The objective of the study was to evaluate the antiproliferative activity of extract and fractions against breast cancer and prostate cancer cell lines and isolate and characterize active compounds from bio-active guided fractions. Moreover, the anticancer activity of isolated compounds against breast and prostate cancer cell lines was also evaluated, in addition to in silico and molecular docking interactions of isolated compounds with VEGFR2 and PDGFRα target proteins. METHODS: The compounds were isolated and purified with the help of repeated column chromatography, and spectral techniques, such as 1D, 2D NMR, and GC-MS/MS, were used to identify and elucidate the structure of the compounds. Moreover, prediction of activity spectra for substances, physiochemical properties, bioactivity radar prediction, bioactivity score, natural-product likeness, ADME, and toxicity parameters of isolated compounds (AC-1 to AC-4) was performed through various in-silico databases and servers. To evaluate the docking interaction profile and binding energies of compounds, three docking tools were utilized, such as AutoDock, AutoDock Vina, and iGEMDOCK, against two targets VEGFR2 and PDGFRα. MD simulation was performed through ligand and receptor molecular dynamic server (LARMD). RESULTS: It was found that the A. cadamba bark chloroform fraction demonstrated a significant inhibitory effect against MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and PC-3 cells in a dose-time-dependent manner. The bioassay-guided isolation afforded four molecules AC-1 to AC-4 from chloroform fraction. Moreover, the GC-MS/MS profiling identified fourteen new molecules which were not reported earlier from A. cadamba. The in-silico study showed that the isolated compounds (AC-1 to AC-4) followed Lipinski's rule and had good oral bioavailability. While compound AC-4 had positive bioactivity scores except for kinase inhibitor activity. The ADMET profiling revealed that AC-4 was non-toxic and easily absorbed in the human intestine, and transportable in the blood-brain barrier compared to AC-1, AC-2, AC-3, and standard drug doxorubicin. Molecular docking and MD simulation assessment also signified AC-4 anticancer activity with dual inhibitory action against the target proteins VEGFR2 and PDGFRα amongst the studied compounds. The in vitro cell viability assay of isolated compounds demonstrated that AC-1 showed IC50 (µg/mL) value of 34.96 ±3.91, 47.76±3.80 69.1±4.96, AC-2; 68.26±4.22, 54.03±5.14, >100, AC-3; 35.34±4.14, 51.5±51.5, 70.8±5.25 and AC-4; 44.2±3.57, 24.2±2.67, 51.2±2.54 for MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and PC-3 cancer cell lines, respectively and compared with standard drug doxorubicin. Moreover, fluorescence microscopy confirmed the apoptogenic property of compounds. We also found that AC-4 exhibited significant intracellular ROS production in breast cancer cells, thereby inducing apoptosis and eventually cell death. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, A. cadamba afforded four pure molecules AC-1 to AC-4 with the identification of fourteen new compounds. The entire in-silico studies concluded that the AC-4 compound had better oral bioavailability, bioactivity score, and ADMET profile among studied molecules. Molecular docking analysis and MD simulation also supported AC-4 dual inhibitory action against both VEGFR2 and PDGFRα receptors. Moreover, the isolated molecules AC-1, AC-2, AC-3, and AC-4 were found to be active against MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and PC-3 cancer cells. The molecule AC-4 was found to induce ROS-mediated apoptosis in breast cancer cells. It was found that the anticancer inhibitory potentiality of AC-4 is directed to its molecular stereochemistry which specifically binds to the target proteins of breast cancer cells with no toxicological effect. Therefore, AC-4 is suggested to be an effective aspirant for novel drug design and discovery.

Biotechnological Advances in Pharmacognosy and In Vitro Manipulation of Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb.

Trees are vital resources for economic, environmental, and industrial growth, supporting human life directly or indirectly through a wide variety of therapeutic compounds, commodities, and ecological services. Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb. (Fabaceae) is one of the most valuable multipurpose forest trees in India and Sri Lanka, as it is cultivated for quality wood as well as pharmaceutically bioactive compounds, especially from the stem bark and heartwood. However, propagation of the tree in natural conditions is difficult due to the low percentage of seed germination coupled with overexploitation of this species for its excellent multipurpose properties. This overexploitation has ultimately led to the inclusion of P. marsupium on the list of endangered plant species. However, recent developments in plant biotechnology may offer a solution to the overuse of such valuable species if such advances are accompanied by technology transfer in the developing world. Specifically, techniques in micropropagation, genetic manipulation, DNA barcoding, drug extraction, delivery, and targeting as well as standardization, are of substantial concern. To date, there are no comprehensive and detailed reviews of P. marsupium in terms of biotechnological research developments, specifically pharmacognosy, pharmacology, tissue culture, authentication of genuine species, and basic gene transfer studies. Thus, the present review attempts to present a comprehensive overview of the biotechnological studies centered on this species and some of the recent novel approaches for its genetic improvement.

Synthesis and Characterization of CuO Rods for Enhanced Visible Light Driven Dye Degradation.

Here, we report simple and efficient method to synthesize CuO rods using copper acetate, hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solutions via hydrothermal process followed by calcination. The Field emission scanning electron microscopy images revealed that synthesized CuO rods were 2-4µm thick with several micrometers long and grown into high density. The as-synthesized CuO rods were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-visible spectroscopy and Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS) which confirmed the formation of highly crystalline, single phase pure CuO rods with monoclinic structures. The photocatalytic capability of synthesized CuO rods was executed by monitoring the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under visible light illumination. The results showed MB dye degraded about ~70% in just 100 min and followed first order reaction kinetics with rate constant k = 0.01123 mint.1 and R² = 0.9880.

Synthesis and Characterizations of Nitrogen (N) Doped Strontium Titanate (SrTiO3) Nanoparticles for Enhanced Visible Light Driven Photocatalytic Degradation.

Highly crystalline bare and N-doped SrTiO3 nanoparticles were effectively synthesized with strontium acetate, titanium isopropoxide, hexamethylenetetramine as precursor via citric acid assisted hydrothermal process followed by calcination. The hydrothermally synthesized bare and N-doped SrTiO3 NPs possessed monodispersity throughout with particle size diameter 50±5 nm but because of annealing at 750 °C temperature the synthesized NPs got agglomerate which created rough surface and induces oxygen vacancy in the NPs. Introducing N3- ions impurity into SrTiO3 lattice tailored the electronic band structure of SrTiO3 and extends its absorption into the visible region. It would display the p-type conductivity and facilitate the photoinduced electron-hole pairs towards respective site which diminishes the chances of recombination of electron-hole pairs that enhances photocatalytic degradation reaction. The results showed MB degraded about ~88 in just 140 min and followed first order reaction kinetics with rate constant k = 0.01489 mint-1.

An Efficient Superframe Structure with Optimal Bandwidth Utilization and Reduced Delay for Internet of Things Based Wireless Sensor Networks.

Internet of Things (IoT) is a promising technology that uses wireless sensor networks to enable data collection, monitoring, and transmission from the physical devices to the Internet. Due to its potential large scale usage, efficient routing and Medium Access Control (MAC) techniques are vital to meet various application requirements. Most of the IoT applications need low data rate and low powered wireless transmissions and IEEE 802.15.4 standard is mostly used in this regard which offers superframe structure at the MAC layer. However, for IoT applications where nodes have adaptive data traffic, the standard has some limitations such as bandwidth wastage and latency. In this paper, a new superframe structure is proposed that is backward compatible with the existing parameters of the standard. The proposed superframe overcomes limitations of the standard by fine-tuning its superframe structure and squeezing the size of its contention-free slots. Thus, the proposed superframe adjusts its duty cycle according to the traffic requirements and accommodates more nodes in a superframe structure. The analytical results show that our proposed superframe structure has almost 50% less delay, accommodate more nodes and has better link utilization in a superframe as compared to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard.

Auxin-cytokinin synergism in vitro for producing genetically stable plants of Ruta graveolens using shoot tip meristems.

An efficient micropropagation protocol was developed for Ruta graveolens Linn. using shoot tip meristems derived from a 4-month-old field grown plant. In vitro shoot regeneration and proliferation was accomplished on Murashige and Skoogs (MS) semi-solid medium in addition to different doses of cytokinins viz.6- benzyl adenine (BA), Kinetin (Kn) or 2-isopetynyl adenine (2iP), singly or in combination with auxins viz. indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) or α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). Highest regeneration frequency (27.6%) was obtained on (MS) medium composed of BA (10 µM) with maximum number (9.4) of shoots and 4.3 cm shoot length after 4 weeks of incubation. Among various combinations tried best regeneration frequency (71%) of multiple shoot formation with highest number (12.6) of shoots per shoot tip explants were achieved in MS medium augmented with a combination BA (10.0 µM) and NAA (2.5 µM) after 4 weeks of incubation. The optimum frequency (97%) of rhizogenesis was achieved on half-strength MS medium having 0.5 µM IBA after 4 weeks of incubation. Tissue culture raised plantlets with 5-7 fully opened leaves with healthy root system were successfully acclimatized off in Soilrite™ with 80% survival rate followed by transportation to normal soil under natural light. Genetic stability among in vitro raised progeny was evaluated by ISSR and RAPD markers. The entire banding pattern revealed from in vitro regenerated plants was monomorphic to the donor. The present protocol provides an alternative option for commercial propagation and fruitful setting up of genetically uniform progeny for sustainable utilization and germplasm preservation.

Early outcomes of on-pump versus off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.

OBJECTIVES: To see the early post-operative outcomes of off-pump versus on-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery. METHODS: This retrospective analytical study was conducted at Ch. Pervaiz Elahi Institute of Cardiology Multan, Pakistan. Our Primary outcome variables were; necessity of inotropic support, nonfatal myocardial infarction, ICU stay, nonfatal stroke, new renal failure requiring dialysis and death within 30 days after operation. There were two groups of patients; Group-I (On-pump group) and Group-II (Off-pump Group). SPSS V17 was used for data analysis. Independent sample t-test and Mann Whitney U test were used to compare quantitative Variables. Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used to analyze qualitative variables. P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Three hundred patients were included in this study. There were no significant difference regarding risk factors except hyper-cholestrolemia which was high in off pump group (p-value 0.05). Angiographic and Echocardiographic characteristics e.g. preoperative ejection fraction, LV function grade and severity of CAD was same between the groups. Mortality risk scores and Priority status for surgery were also same. Regarding post-operative outcomes; Post-op CKMB Levels, need and duration of inotropic support, mechanical ventilation time and ICU stay was significantly less in Off-Pump group (p-value 0.001, <0.0001, 0.006, 0.025 and 0.001 resp.). Peri-operative chest drainage was significantly high in On-pump CABG group (p-value 0.027). Incidence of post-op complications was not statistically different between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: At 30 days follow-up, Incidence of myocardial infarction, necessity and duration of inotropic support, ICU stay period and peri-operative bleeding were significantly less in off-pump group. The incidence of neurologic, pulmonary and renal complications was same between the off-pump and on-pump groups.

Retraction Note to: influencing micropropagation in Clitoria ternatea L. through the manipulation of TDZ levels and use of different explant types.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.1007/s12298-012-0136-4.].

In Vitro Propagation and Conservation of Withania somnifera (Dunal) L.

Plant tissue culture offers several techniques for rapid clonal propagation, germplasm conservation, regeneration of genetically manipulated superior clones, production of phyto-constituents, and ex vitro conservation of valuable phytodiversity. An improved and efficient micropropagation protocol for Withania somnifera (L.), a drug-producing medicinal plant, using juvenile explants (nodal explants) has been developed. Highest multiplication and subsequent elongation of shoots is observed on MS medium containing BA and NAA. The regenerated microshoots roots best on ½ MS medium containing NAA, established in earthen pots containing garden soil and are maintained in the greenhouse with 95 % survival rate. Genetic uniformity of micropropagated plants is confirmed by PCR-based DNA fingerprinting techniques, viz., RAPD and ISSR. No variation is observed in DNA fingerprinting patterns among the micropropagated plants, which are similar to that of the donor plant illustrating their genetic uniformity.