Editorial for Advanced Antennas for Wireless Communication Systems.

In recent years, there has been a significant expansion in wireless communication, evolving into a global network connecting billions of entities, including individuals and enterprises [...].

Development of metasurface based hyperthermia lens applicator for heating of cancerous tissues.

Numerous designs and methods have been examined to improve penetration depth (PD), but there is a need for research to explore the potential increase in PD through uniform heating, a compact applicator, and low input power. This paper presents metasurface based hyperthermia lens applicator with water bolus for uniform heating of cancerous tissues. The proposed applicator consists of a stacked spiral antenna and a spiral-shaped frequency selective surface as a superstrate. The spiral antenna and superstrate are optimized on a low cost FR4 substrate having a size of 32 × 32 × 3.27mm3 and 10 × 10 × 1.6mm3 (size of the unit cell), respectively. The proposed applicator is simulated with heterogeneous phantom (skin, fat, and muscle layers) and with the Gustav voxel model with and without a water bolus layer. The number of unit cells in the superstrate is optimized to direct the maximum energy toward the tumor location. The performance study of the applicator is carried out in terms of specific absorption rate, PD, and effective field size. Further, thermal analysis is carried out with 1.9 W of input power at the antenna port, and the highest 44.7 °C temperature rise is obtained. The cancerous tissue's (tumor) surrounding temperature is between 41 and 45 °C, which is adequate for efficient hyperthermia treatment. Finally, the proposed metasurface hyperthermia lens applicator is fabricated and experimentally validated in a mimicked phantom's presence. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13534-023-00300-z.

Bacteriophage Therapy of Chronic Nonhealing Wound: Clinical Study.

BACKGROUND: A chronic wound usually results due to halt in the inflammatory phase of wound healing. Bacterial infections and biofilm formation are considered to be the basic cause of it. Chronic wounds significantly impair the quality of life. Antibiotics are now failing due to biofilm formation emergence of drug-resistant bacteria. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to see the effect of bacteriophage therapy in chronic nonhealing wound infected with the following bacteria: Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. SUBJECT: Patients with chronic nonhealing wound not responding to conventional local debridement and antibiotic therapy were included in the study. The age of patients ranged between 12 and 60 years. METHOD: A total of 20 patients selected and tissue biopsies and wound swabs were taken for isolation of the bacteria. After confirmation of organism, a cocktail of customized bacteriophages was topically applied over the wound on alternate days till the wound surface became microbiologically sterile. Mean bacterial count and clinical assessment were done and compared at the time of presentation and after 3 and 5 doses of application. RESULTS: A significant improvement was observed in the wound healing, and there were no signs of infection clinically and microbiologically after 3 to 5 doses of topical bacteriophage therapy. Seven patients achieved complete healing on day21 during follow up while in others healthy margins and healthy granulation tissue were observed. CONCLUSION: Topical bacteriophage application may be quite effective therapy for the treatment of chronic nonhealing wounds.

Pathological Status of Pyricularia angulata Causing Blast and Pitting Disease of Banana in Eastern India.

Incidence of leaf blast on nursery plants and pitting disease on maturing banana bunches has been recorded in banana plantations during rainy season in Eastern India during 2014 to 2015. Taxonomical identification as well as DNA sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region of fungus isolated from affected tissue culture derived plantlets and fruits confirmed the pathogen to be Pyricularia angulata Hashioka "in both the cases". Koch's postulates were proved on young plantlets as well as on maturing fruits of cv. Grand Naine under simulated conditions. Evolutionary history was inferred and presented for our P. angulata strain PG9001 with GenBank accession no. KU984740. The analysis indicated that the P. angulata is phylogenitically distinct from other related species related to both Pyricularia and Magnaporthe. Detailed symptoms of blast lesions on young leaves, transition leaves, mid rib, petioles, peduncle, maturing bunches, bunch stalks and cushions were documented. Notably, the distinct small pitting spots on maturing bunches reduced the visual appeal of mature fruits. Appearance of pitting symptoms on fruits in relation with age of fruits and their distribution pattern on bunch and fingers was also documented in detail. Further, the roles of transitory leaves, weed hosts, seasonality on disease occurrence have also been documented.

Probing occurrence of phenylpropanoids in Morinda citrifolia in relation to foliar diseases.

Accumulation of phenolic compounds in cell walls of different plant organs leading to increased lignification is an early defence response of plants against biotic stress. The aim of this work was to delineate occurrence of cell wall-bound (CWB) phenolic compounds in Morinda citrifolia leaves. Alkaline hydrolysis of the cell wall material of leaf tissues yielded 4-coumaric acid (4-CA) as the major bulk of the phenolic compounds in all Morinda germplasms. Next in line was 4-hydroxybenzoic acid. Other phenolics identified were vanillic acid, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, vanillin and ferulic acid. Concentrations of all the CWB phenolics were highest in the germplasm CHN-5, followed by the germplasm CHN-1. Incidentally, these two Morinda germplasms recorded lowest incidence of foliar diseases. Significantly higher amounts of 4-CA in combination with other phenolics may be the reasons for lowest incidence of foliar diseases in CHN-5 and CHN-1 germplasms of M. citrifolia.