Investigation of genetic polymorphism at ß-casein A1/A2 loci and association analysis with production & reproduction traits in Vrindavani crossbred cows.

Casein constitutes approximately 80% of the total protein in bovine milk and is regarded as a high-quality dietary protein embracing all the nine essential amino acids. However, the contested physiological effect of a bioactive peptide released upon digestion of a ß-casein milk protein variant originating from a cow of a particular genetic makeup has evoked wide interest in research and industry. Present investigations were carried out to genotype the polymorphism in milk ß-casein gene, delineate the seasonal, periodic, and parity variations in production and reproduction traits, and examine the genetic association between ß-casein genotypes and production, and reproduction traits in Vrindavani crossbred cows. The study revealed that all three types of genotypes viz. A1A1, A2A2 and A1A2 were present in the Vrindavani crossbred population with genotypic frequencies of 12.3%, 39.6% and 48.1% respectively. The least-squares analysis revealed that the season of calving, period of calving, and parity affected several production and reproduction traits of Vrindavani cows significantly. It was found that ß-Casein A1/A2 genotype had a significant effect on economic traits viz. LL (p ≤ 0.05), MY/LL (p ≤ 0.05), and Fat% (p ≤ 0.05) in Vrindavani crossbreds. The findings uncover the genetic constitution of the crossbreds for ß-casein locus and emphasize its relationship with important economic traits that can aid in devising selection goals.

WPAN and IoT Enabled Automation to Authenticate Ignition of Vehicle in Perspective of Smart Cities.

Currently, two-wheelers are the most popular mode of transportation, driven by the majority the people. Research by the World Health Organization (WHO) identifies that most two-wheeler deaths are caused due to not wearing a helmet. However, the advancement in sensors and wireless communication technology empowers one to monitor physical things such as helmets through wireless technology. Motivated by these aspects, this article proposes a wireless personal network and an Internet of Things assisted system for automating the ignition of two-wheelers with authorization and authentication through the helmet. The authentication and authorization are realized with the assistance of a helmet node and a two-wheeler node based on 2.4 GHz RF communication. The helmet node is embedded with three flex sensors utilized to experiment with different age groups and under different temperature conditions. The statistical data collected during the experiment are utilized to identify the appropriate threshold value through a t-test hypothesis for igniting the two-wheelers. The threshold value obtained after the t-test is logged in the helmet node for initiating the communication with the two-wheeler node. The pairing of the helmet node along with the RFID key is achieved through 2.4 GHZ RF communication. During real-time implementation, the helmet node updates the status to the server and LABVIEW data logger, after wearing the helmet. Along with the customization of hardware, a LABVIEW data logger is designed to visualize the data on the server side.

Effect of site-directed point mutations on protein misfolding: A simulation study.

A Monte Carlo simulation based sequence design method is proposed to investigate the role of site-directed point mutations in protein misfolding. Site-directed point mutations are incorporated in the designed sequences of selected proteins. While most mutated sequences correctly fold to their native conformation, some of them stabilize in other nonnative conformations and thus misfold/unfold. The results suggest that a critical number of hydrophobic amino acid residues must be present in the core of the correctly folded proteins, whereas proteins misfold/unfold if this number of hydrophobic residues falls below the critical limit. A protein can accommodate only a particular number of hydrophobic residues at the surface, provided a large number of hydrophilic residues are present at the surface and critical hydrophobicity of the core is preserved. Some surface sites are observed to be equally sensitive toward site-directed point mutations as the core sites. Point mutations with highly polar and charged amino acids increases the misfold/unfold propensity of proteins. Substitution of natural amino acids at sites with different number of nonbonded contacts suggests that both amino acid identity and its respective site-specificity determine the stability of a protein. A clash-match method is developed to calculate the number of matching and clashing interactions in the mutated protein sequences. While misfolded/unfolded sequences have a higher number of clashing and a lower number of matching interactions, the correctly folded sequences have a lower number of clashing and a higher number of matching interactions. These results are valid for different SCOP classes of proteins.

Role of local and nonlocal interactions in folding and misfolding of globular proteins.

A Monte Carlo simulation based sequence design method is proposed to study the role of the local and the nonlocal interactions with varying secondary structure content in protein folding, misfolding and unfolding. A statistical potential is developed from the compilation of a data set of proteins, which accounts for the respective contribution of local and the nonlocal interactions. Sequences are designed through a combination of positive and negative design by a Monte Carlo simulation in the sequence space. The weights of the local and the nonlocal interactions are tuned appropriately to study the role of the local and the nonlocal interactions in the folding, unfolding and misfolding of the designed sequences. Results suggest that the nonlocal interactions are the primary determinant of protein folding while the local interactions may be required but not always necessary. The nonlocal interactions mainly guide the polypeptide chain to form compact structures but do not differentiate between the native-like conformations, while the local interactions stabilize the target conformation against the native-like competing conformations. The study concludes that the local interactions govern the fold-misfold transition, while the nonlocal interactions regulate the fold-unfold transition of proteins. However, for proteins with predominantly ß-sheet content, the nonlocal interactions control both fold-misfold and fold-unfold transitions.

Sequential logic circuit gold codes for electronics and communication technologies.

The linear feedback shift register (LFSR) and Gold codes are used in telecommunications, Global Positioning System (GPS), satellite navigation, wireless systems, and code division multiple access (CDMA) dependent channel schemes for numerous radio communication technologies Gold codes are distinguished by their capacity to provide various orthogonal sequences.•The objective of the article is to focus on the design and simulation of the LFSR-based gold code generator chip in Xilinx ISE 14.7 software with the logic synthesis in Virtex-5 field programmable gate array (FPGA) and check the switching behavior with large frequency support applicable in fast-switching optical, and wireless electronics systems.•The methodology comprises design, functional simulation with different test inputs, and FPGA synthesis. The chip design is verified for the 10-bit seeding sequence of LFSRs to result in 1023-bit code with the frequency support of 310 MHz, and 9.285 ns delay.•The chip design is simulated based on seed data and different tap points of LFSR registers from which the bits are considered to generate the feedback. The design is scalable and has greater potential to extend to a larger extent. The behavior of the gold code depends on the maximum length sequence, absolute cross-correlation, and size of LFSR.

Study and analysis of different segmentation methods for brain tumor MRI application.

Medical Resonance Imaging (MRI) is one of the preferred imaging methods for brain tumor diagnosis and getting detailed information on tumor type, location, size, identification, and detection. Segmentation divides an image into multiple segments and describes the separation of the suspicious region from pre-processed MRI images to make the simpler image that is more meaningful and easier to examine. There are many segmentation methods, embedded with detection devices, and the response of each method is different. The study article focuses on comparing the performance of several image segmentation algorithms for brain tumor diagnosis, such as Otsu's, watershed, level set, K-means, HAAR Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). All of the techniques are simulated in MATLAB using online images from the Brain Tumor Image Segmentation Benchmark (BRATS) dataset-2018. The performance of these methods is analyzed based on response time and measures such as recall, precision, F-measures, and accuracy. The measured accuracy of Otsu's, watershed, level set, K-means, DWT, and CNN methods is 71.42%, 78.26%, 80.45%, 84.34%, 86.95%, and 91.39 respectively. The response time of CNN is 2.519 s in the MATLAB simulation environment for the designed algorithm. The novelty of the work is that CNN has been proven the best algorithm in comparison to all other methods for brain tumor image segmentation. The simulated and estimated parameters provide the direction to researchers to choose the specific algorithm for embedded hardware solutions and develop the optimal machine-learning models, as the industries are looking for the optimal solutions of CNN and deep learning-based hardware models for the brain tumor.

Analysis of ECG-based arrhythmia detection system using machine learning.

The 3D Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) are used in this study to analyze and characterize Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. This technique consists of three stages: ECG signal preprocessing, feature extraction, and ECG signal order. The 3D wavelet transform is a signal preprocessing technique, de-noising, along with wavelet coefficient extraction.•SVM is used to categorize the ECG through each of the nine heartbeat types recognized by the various classifiers. For this work, around 6400 ECG beats were looked at over the China Physiological Signal Challenge (CPSC) 2018 arrhythmia dataset.•The best degree of exactness was acquired when level 4 rough constants with Symlet-8 (Sym8) channel were utilized for arrangement. Utilizing the ECG signals from CPSC 2018 data set, the SVM classifier has a normal precision of 99.02%, which is much better than complex support vector machine (CSVM) 98.5%, and weighted support vector machine (WSVM) 99%.•The suggested approach is far superior to others in terms of accuracy, and classification of several diseases of arrhythmia.

Performance analysis of multiple input single layer neural network hardware chip.

An artificial neural network (ANN) is a computational system that is designed to replicate and process the behavior of the human brain using neuron nodes. ANNs are made up of thousands of processing neurons with input and output modules that self-learn and compute data to offer the best results. The hardware realization of the massive neuron system is a difficult task. The research article emphasizes the design and realization of multiple input perceptron chips in Xilinx integrated system environment (ISE) 14.7 software. The proposed single-layer ANN architecture is scalable and accepts variable 64 inputs. The design is distributed in eight parallel blocks of ANN in which one block consists of eight neurons. The performance of the chip is analyzed based on the hardware utilization, memory, combinational delay, and different processing elements with targeted hardware Virtex-5 field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The chip simulation is performed in Modelsim 10.0 software. Artificial intelligence has a wide range of applications, and cutting-edge computing technology has a vast market. Hardware processors that are fast, affordable, and suited for ANN applications and accelerators are being developed by the industries. The novelty of the work is that it provides a parallel and scalable design platform on FPGA for fast switching, which is the current need in the forthcoming neuromorphic hardware.

Study the association between spirometry based functional grading and six minute walk distance in chronic respiratory disease patients at a rural tertiary care centre of India.

Introduction: Six-min walk test (6MWT) is easy to use, the least expensive, and a quick measure of physical function and it reflects the capacity to perform our day-to-day activities hence quality of life can be assessed with 6MWT. This study was planned to assess the role of 6MWT in chronic respiratory disease patients and its association with spirometry-based functional grading at a rural tertiary care center of northern India. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study done between December 2019 and July 2021. In this study, 110 patients were included as per inclusion and exclusion criteria. 6MWT and spirometry were conducted as per the American Thoracic Society/European Research Society recommendation using Spiropalm 6MWT and the association between 6MWT and spirometry was assessed. Results: A total of 110 chronic respiratory disease patients were included in the study. There were 69 (63%) males while 41 (37%) were females. Among study participants, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients were the most common 48 (43.6%) patients, followed by asthma 28 (25.5%), posttuberculosis sequelae patients 22 (20%), interstitial lung disease 9 (8.2%), and bronchiectasis 3 (2.7%) patients were found. There was a significant positive correlation of 6-min walk distance (6MWD) and % predicted 6MWD with spirometric parameters, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and there was a significant positive correlation of 6MWD with FEV1% (predicted) also. 6MWD and % predicted 6MWD negatively correlated with FEV1/FVC and association between 6MWD and FEV1/FVC was not statistically significant and between % predicted 6MWD and FEV1/FVC, it was found statistically significant. Conclusion: The 6MWD traveled by chronic respiratory disease patients was significantly lower than the predicted 6MWD and 6MWD correlated with spirometric variables well. Therefore, it can conclude that 6MWT is a useful alternative of spirometry in the management of chronic respiratory disease patients in resource-limited settings.

Résumé Introduction: Le test de marche de six minutes (6MWT) est facile à utiliser, le moins coûteux et constitue une mesure rapide de la fonction physique. Il reflète la capacité à effectuer nos activités quotidiennes et la qualité de vie peut donc être évaluée à l'aide du test de marche de six minutes. Cette étude avait pour but d'évaluer le rôle du6MWT chez les patients atteints de maladies respiratoires chroniques et son association avec le classement fonctionnel basé sur la spirométrie dans un centre de soins tertiaires rural du nord de l'Inde. Matériels et méthodes: Il s'agit d'une étude transversale en milieu hospitalier réalisée entre décembre 2019 et juillet 2021. Dans cette étude, 110 patients ont été inclus selon les critères d'inclusion et d'exclusion. Le 6MWT et la spirométrie ont été effectués conformément aux recommandations de l'American Thoracic Society et de l'European Research Society. Thoracic Society/European Research Society en utilisant le Spiropalm 6MWT et l'association entre le 6MWT et la spirométrie a été évaluée. Résultats: Au total, 110 patients atteints de maladies respiratoires chroniques ont été inclus dans l'étude. Il y avait 69 hommes (63 %) et 41 femmes (37 %).41 (37 %) étaient des femmes. Parmi les participants à l'étude, les patients atteints de bronchopneumopathie chronique obstructive étaient les plus nombreux (48 (43,6 %)), suivis de l'asthme (28 (25,5 %)) suivis par l'asthme 28 (25,5%), les séquelles de la tuberculose 22 (20%), la pneumopathie interstitielle 9 (8,2%) et la bronchectasie 3 (2,7%).3 (2,7 %). Il existe une corrélation positive significative entre la distance de marche de 6 minutes (6MWD) et le % prédit de la 6MWD avec les paramètres spirométriques, l'expiration forcée et le taux de mortalité.avec les paramètres spirométriques, le volume expiratoire forcé en 1 s (VEMS), la capacité vitale forcée (CVF) et le volume de l'air expiré.) et la capacité vitale forcée (CVF), et il existe une corrélation positive significative entre le 6MWD et le VEMS.entre le 6MWD et le VEMS(prédit). Le 6MWD et le % prédit du 6MWD étaient négativement corrélés avec le VEMS / CVF et l'association entre le 6MWD et le % prédit du VEMS./CVF et l'association entre le6MWD et le VEMS/n'était pas statistiquement significative et entre le % prédit du 6MWD et le VEMS/CVF, elle s'est avérée statistiquement significative. Conclusion: Le 6MWD parcouru par les patients atteints de maladies respiratoires chroniques était significativement plus bas que le 6MWD prédit et le 6MWDétait bien corrélé avec les variables spirométriques. On peut donc conclure que le 6MWT est une alternative utile à la spirométrie dans la prise en charge des patients atteints de maladies respiratoires chroniques dans les pays à ressources limitées.des patients souffrant de maladies respiratoires chroniques dans des contextes où les ressources sont limitées. Mots-clés: distance de marche de 6 minutes, test de marche de 6 minutes, maladies respiratoires chroniques, spirométrie.

Capturing agro-morphological variability for tolerance to terminal heat and combined heat-drought stress in landraces and elite cultivar collection of wheat.

Climate change has resulted in extreme temperature and drought around the globe, which poses serious threat to food security. Both heat and drought stress affects the production and productivity of wheat crop. The present study was undertaken to evaluate 34 landraces and elite cultivars of Triticum spp. for phenological and yield-related traits under optimum, heat, and combined heat-drought stress environments during 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. The pooled analysis of variance showed significant genotype × environment interaction, suggesting an influence of stress on trait expression. The trait performance of genotypes exhibited significant reduction under combined heat-drought stress as compared to optimum and heat stress environments. The maximum seed yield penalty was observed under combined heat-drought stress environment as compared to heat stress alone. Regression analysis indicated significant contribution of number of grains per spike towards stress tolerance. Based on Stress Tolerance Index (STI), genotypes Local-17, PDW 274, HI-8802, and HI-8713 were identified to be tolerant to both heat and combined heat and drought stress at Banda, whereas genotypes DBW 187, HI-8777, Raj 4120, and PDW 274 were tolerant at Jhansi location. The genotype PDW 274 showed stress tolerance under all treatments at both the locations. The genotypes PDW 233 and PDW 291 showed highest stress susceptibility index (SSI) across the environments. The number of grains per spike and test kernel weight were positively associated with seed yield across the environments and locations. The selected genotypes Local-17, HI 8802, and PDW 274 were identified to be the potential sources of heat and combined heat-drought tolerance, which may be utilized in hybridization to develop tolerant wheat genotypes and also for mapping of underlying genes/quantitative trait loci (QTLs).

Metabolic Syndrome and Its Correlates Among Female Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients at a Rural Tertiary Health Care Center in Northern India.

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung disease that is thought to result from chronic inflammation that may affect other organ systems. Similarly, metabolic syndrome includes central obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), hyperglycemia, and hypertension. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its associated factors among female COPD patients in northern India needs to be evaluated. AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To find the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its correlates among female chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients at a rural tertiary health care center in northern India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between January 2019 and June 2020 at a rural tertiary health care center in northern India. The female patients who presented with symptoms of COPD and fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included and classified by Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD 2020) guideline while the clinical diagnosis of metabolic syndrome was made according to National Cholesterol Education Program: Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP: ATP III) criteria. RESULTS: A total of 210 female COPD patients were included, the mean age of patients who had metabolic syndrome was 63.38±10.54 years. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed in 60.48% of patients. There was a significant difference between female COPD patients with and without metabolic syndrome regarding body weight, BMI (body mass index), waist circumference, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), blood sugar, serum triglyceride, serum HDL-C. Whereas no significant difference was found between patients with and without metabolic syndrome group regarding smoking exposure, biomass fuel exposure, duration of biomass fuel exposure, mMRC (modified Medical Research Council) grading of breathlessness, GOLD grading of airflow limitation, route and duration of corticosteroid used. In our study, we also found a significant association between the severity of airflow limitation of COPD with the duration of biomass fuel exposure and BMI. Also, there was a significant association between biomass fuel exposure and the presence of cough in female COPD patients. CONCLUSION: Metabolic syndrome is a prevalent entity in female COPD patients among the northern Indian population. Body weight, BMI, waist circumference, SBP, DBP, fasting blood sugar, serum triglyceride, and serum HDL-C have a significant impact on developing metabolic syndrome in female COPD patients. Duration of biomass fuel exposure and BMI also have a significant impact on the severity of airflow limitation in female COPD patients. So early detection and treatment of parameters of metabolic syndrome are important to reduce complications.

Networked control system with MANET communication and AODV routing.

The industries are presently exploring the use of wired and wireless systems for control, automation, and monitoring. The primary benefit of wireless technology is that it reduces the installation cost, in both money and labor terms, as companies already have a significant investment in wiring. The research article presents the work on the analysis of Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) in a wireless real-time communication medium for a Networked Control System (NCS), and determining whether the simulated behavior is significant for a plant or not. The behavior of the MANET is analyzed for Ad-hoc on-demand distance vector routing (AODV) that maintenances communication among 150 nodes for NCS. The simulation is carried out in Network Simulator (NS2) software with different nodes cluster to estimate the network throughput, end-to-end delay, packet delivery ratio (PDR), and control overhead. The benefit of MANET is that it has a fixed topology, which permits flexibility since mobile devices may be used to construct ad-hoc networks anywhere, scalability because more nodes can be added to the network, and minimal operating expenses in that no original infrastructure needs to be developed. AODV routing is a flat routing system that does not require central routing nodes. As the network grows in size, the network can be scaled to meet the network design and configuration requirements. AODV is flexible to support different configurations and topological nodes in dynamic networks because of its versatility. The advantage of such network simulation and routing behavior provides the future direction for the researchers who are working towards the embedded hardware solutions for NCS, as the hardware complexity depends on the delay, throughput, and PDR.

Comparison of the Efficacy of the Cartridge-Based Nucleic Amplification (CBNAAT)/Xpert Test and Histology of Genital Tissues in Diagnosing Female Genital Tuberculosis.

Background Diagnosing female genital tuberculosis (FGTB) is very difficult by routine laboratory investigations. Collecting tissues from genital structures, especially from tubes for histology, is impossible. The cartridge-based nucleic amplification (CBNAAT)/Xpert RIF test is a new polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method that is quick and may diagnose FGTB from any tissue type; however, it should not be contaminated with blood. This study was conducted to compare the efficacy of CBNAAT and the histology of genital tissue in suspected cases. Materials and methods This was a prospective study of the diagnostic efficacy of 91 cases of suspected FGTB randomly selected from March 2018 to September 2019 at a rural tertiary care center. Endometrial tissue collected in 86 patients (59 infertility, 27 menstrual irregularities) and tubal/peritoneal tissue from hysterectomy or laparotomy specimens of five participants who underwent surgery were sent for histopathological analysis and CBNAAT and the results were evaluated and compared. Results There were 59 (64.83%) and 32 (35.2%) cases of infertility and menstrual irregularities, respectively. Primary infertility (38; 41.75%) was the most common complaint. Endometrial biopsies (EB) of two (2.23%) cases were found positive for tuberculosis (TB) both on histopathological examination (HPE) and CBNAAT. In addition, both patients had primary infertility. Of the 32 cases with menstrual abnormalities (27 EB and three tubal tissue, two peritoneal and nodular tissue), none were found to be positive for TB on HPE or CBNAAT. A highly significant association was found between histopathology and CBNAAT (p<0.0001) in the endometrial tissue of infertile patients. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were 100% for CBNAAT, with reference to histopathology. Conclusion We recommend CBNAAT for the early detection of FGTB, with the added advantage of early results, minimal technical expertise, and detection of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB).

Primary tuberculosis of the appendix: A common disease with rare location - a rare case report from rural India.

Tubercular appendicitis is the appendicular infection with tubercular bacillus, which develops as an extension of ileocecal infection. Tuberculosis is either primary or secondary. Primary tuberculosis of the appendix is uncommon. Diagnosis is made by histopathological examination of the resected appendix. We report a rare case of tubercular appendicitis diagnosed on histopathology. Primary Tuberculosis of the appendix is a clinical rarity. Hence, it is being reported. The case report in this study emphasizes the importance of submitting all appendectomy specimens for histopathological examination and the occurrence of primary tuberculosis at a rare site, such as the appendix.

Effect of Correlated Pair Mutations in Protein Misfolding.

A Monte Carlo simulation based sequence design method is proposed to explore the effect of correlated pair mutations in proteins. In the designed sequences, the most correlated residue pairs are identified and mutated with all possible amino acid pairs except those already present. The cumulative correlated pair mutations generated an array of mutated sequences. Results show a significant increase in the probability of misfolding for correlated pair mutations as compared to that of the random pair mutations. The pair mutations of correlated residues that are in contact record a higher probability of misfolding as compared to the correlated residues that are not in contact. The probability of misfolding increases on pair mutation of nonlocally correlated residue pairs as compared to that of the locally correlated residue pairs. The choice of a compact or expanded conformation does not depend on the type of correlated pair mutations. Pair mutation of the most correlated residue pairs at the surface with hydrophobic amino acids results in higher misfolding probability as compared to that in the core. An exactly opposite behavior is observed on pair mutation with hydrophilic and charged amino acid pairs. The neutral amino acid pairs do not differentiate between core and surface sites. This study may be used for targeted mutation experiments to predict complex mutation patterns, reengineer the existing proteins, and design new proteins with reduced misfolding propensity.

Seasonal changes in the population of Menacanthus cornutus (Phthiraptera: Amblycera).

The chicken body louse, Menacanthus cornutus (Menoponidae s.l.) completes its whole life cycle on the body of Gallus gallus domesticus. The louse exploits the microclimate developed by host skin temperature and feather cover. The weekly visual examination has demonstrated the pronounced response on the population fluctuation of M. cornutus to the seasonal changes in the environment despite all favourable condition on the body of homothermic host. The experiments commences from April 2008. The peak index was obtained in the month of August followed by drastically decline in succeeding 5 months. Lice index begins building up slowly from the months of February and March. The correlation between mean monthly lice indices with temperature and photoperiod were analyses as strong positive. The moderate positive correlation was found with relative humidity and it remained insignificant with rainfall.

The effect of smoking on the hearing status-a hospital based study.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking has been known to affect the human physiology and among the various damaging effects of tobacco, it has been linked with its effect on the sense of hearing. AIM AND OBJECTIVE: This study was designed with the aim of finding the relationship between smoking and hearing loss in various age groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 148 subjects among which 108 were smokers and 40 were age matched non smokers. The smoking history of all the subjects whose ages ranged from 20 to 60 years was taken in detail and their audiometric thresholds were recorded in a sound proof room by a professional audiometrist. The data was analyzed by using appropriate statistical tests. OBSERVATION AND RESULTS: Smoking was found to be signifi- cantly associated with hearing loss. Also, the hearing loss was mainly of the sensorineural type, with the mild type (26-40 dB) of hearing loss being the most common among the smokers.

Evaluation of thermophilic fungal consortium for paddy straw composting.

Out of 10 thermophilic fungi isolated from wheat straw, farm yard manure, and soil, only three showed highest cellobiase, carboxymethyl cellulase, xylanase, and FPase activities. They were identified as Aspergillus nidulans (Th(4)), Scytalidium thermophilum (Th(5)), and Humicola sp. (Th(10)). A fungal consortium of these three fungi was used to compost a mixture (1:1) of silica rich paddy straw and lignin rich soybean trash. The composting of paddy straw for 3 months, during summer period in North India, resulted in a product with C:N ratio 9.5:1, available phosphorus 0.042% and fungal biomass 6.512 mg of N-acetyl glucosamine/100 mg of compost. However, a C:N ratio of 10.2:1 and highest humus content of 3.3% was achieved with 1:1 mixture of paddy straw and soybean trash. The fungal consortium was effective in converting high silica paddy straw into nutritionally rich compost thereby leading to economical and environment friendly disposal of this crop residue.