AN IMPROVISED CHUTE FOR MUTURU CATTLE

To determine the efficiency of an improvised chute on the progressive walk of Muturu cows, a handling section comprimising a squeeze, 10m long, 1.35m high and 0.60m - 0.80m wide, was improvised with Gmelina posts chalked in 0.60m deep holes at 1.50m distance from each other and connected with rows of barbed wire. In two replicate trials 10 Muturu cows, aged 30-36 months, were passed through the alley until they reached the handling point. The two passes resulted in a mean success rate of 75% attributed to the working efficiency of the improvised chute. It is concluded that in spite of the observed 75% efficiency, the 0.80m - 0.60m width of the improvised chute was on the large side and that narrower, or width-wise adjustable squeezes could be more efficient if tested.

Randomised comparison of provisional side branch stenting versus a two-stent strategy for treatment of true coronary bifurcation lesions involving a large side branch: the Nordic-Baltic Bifurcation Study IV

BackgroundIt is still uncertain whether coronary bifurcations with lesions involving a large side branch (SB) should be treated by stenting the main vessel and provisional stenting of the SB (simple) or by routine two-stent techniques (complex). We aimed to compare clinical outcome after treatment of lesions in large bifurcations by simple or complex stent implantation.MethodsThe study was a randomised, superiority trial. Enrolment required a SB≥2.75 mm, ≥50% diameter stenosis in both vessels, and allowed SB lesion length up to 15 mm. The primary endpoint was a composite of cardiac death, non-procedural myocardial infarction and target lesion revascularisation at 6 months. Two-year clinical follow-up was included in this primary reporting due to lower than expected event rates.ResultsA total of 450 patients were assigned to simple stenting (n=221) or complex stenting (n=229) in 14 Nordic and Baltic centres. Two-year follow-up was available in 218 (98.6%) and 228 (99.5%) patients, respectively. The primary endpoint of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 6 months was 5.5% vs 2.2% (risk differences 3.2%, 95% CI −0.2 to 6.8, p=0.07) and at 2 years 12.9% vs 8.4% (HR 0.63, 95% CI 0.35 to 1.13, p=0.12) after simple versus complex treatment. In the subgroup treated by newer generation drug-eluting stents, MACE was 12.0% vs 5.6% (HR 0.45, 95% CI 0.17 to 1.17, p=0.10) after simple versus complex treatment.ConclusionIn the treatment of bifurcation lesions involving a large SB with ostial stenosis, routine two-stent techniques did not improve outcome significantly compared with treatment by the simpler main vessel stenting technique after 2 years.Trial registration numberNCT01496638.

A Three Valued Morse-Thue Fractal Tapering for Thinning of Fractal Array Antennas

Fractal array antennas are multiband and broadband array antennas having space filling capability. But large Side lobe levels and the huge number of elements are the prominent challenges in the designing of these arrays. In this paper, analysis of linear and heptagonal fractal array antennas are investigated with a three valued Morse-Thue tapering technique. Due to this fractal tapering , a notable improvement has observed in array factor properties and thinning of the elements can be achieved at the various iterations of linear and heptagonal fractal array antennas. These array antennas are analyzed and simulated by MATLAB programming.