The importance of convolutional codes is well established. They are widely used to encode digital data before transmission through noisy or error-prone communication channels to reduce occurrence of errors and memory. This paper presents novel decoding technique, memoryless Hybrid Register Exchange with simulation and FPGA implementation results. It requires single register as compared to Register Exchange Method (REM) & Hybrid Register Exchange Method (HREM); therefore the data transfer operations and ultimately the switching activity will get reduced.

Background: Radiation plays a major role in the management of localized prostate cancer (CaP). There are limited studies reporting the quality of life (QOL) and toxicity with CaP tomotherapy. Materials and Methods: This is a single-institutional prospective observational study evaluating the acute toxicity and QOL of patients with CaP receiving tomotherapy from May 2018 to October 2019. Toxicity assessed using radiation therapy oncology group toxicity grading. QOL assessed using International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and QOL score. Results: A total number of 74 patients received radiation therapy (RT), of which 25 had postoperative RT and 49 had radical RT. The median age was 71 years. During RT, 8 (10.8%) had Grade 2 gastrointestinal (GI) and 4 (5.4%) had Grade 2 genito urinary (GU) toxicities. At 3 months, 1 (1.4%) had Grade 2 GI, 1 (1.4%) had Grade 2 GU, and 1 (1.4%) had Grade 3 GU toxicities. At 6 months, 1 patient had Grade 2 GU and no Grade 2 GI toxicity noted. In postoperative RT Group, 2 (8%) Grade 2 GI and 1 (1.4%) Grade 2 genitourinary toxicity reported during radiation. At 3 months, 1 (1.4%) Grade 2 GI, 1 (1.4%) G2 GU, and 1 (1.4%) G3 GU toxicities noted. At 6 months, no ≥ Grade 2 noted. In radical RT group, during radiation 6 (12.2%) Grade 2 GI and 3 (6.1%) Grade 2 GU recorded. At 3 and 6 months, no ≥ Grade 2 GI/GU toxicity was recorded. No Grade 3/Grade 4 observed in radical RT group. One patient in radical RT and one in postoperative RT had severe IPSS symptom score. Results are comparable to reported studies. Conclusion: Our initial clinical experience with helical tomotherapy in CaP confirms lower rate of toxicities and no significant worsening of QOL with RT.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a vascular disease which is characterized by abnormal proliferation of smooth muscle cells leading to occlusion of pulmonary arterioles, right ventricular hypertrophy and death. Interstitial lung diseases are a diverse group of diseases mainly characterized by inflammation and fibrosis of the pulmonary interstitium. The association of pulmonary hypertension and interstitial lung disease is well known. Increased morbidity and mortality was observed when pulmonary hypertension presents in a patient with interstitial lung disease. The management of pulmonary hypertension in interstitial lung disease is a challenge. We report a case of 60 year old female with severe pulmonary hypertension and interstitial lung disease, who was treated with mycophenolate mofetil along with steroid and antihypertensive drug. Mycophenolate mofetil reduced nocturnal oxygen requirement to 50% after 6 months of treatment and resulted in discontinuation of oxygen therapy after one year of treatment. Profound improvement in pulmonary arterial hypertension and little improvement in interstitial lung disease were observed with no adverse effects. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0) Conflict of interest: None declared | Source of funding: Nil | DOI: http://dx.

Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) are rare group of systemic connective tissue diseases, which are often difficult to diagnose. They are characterized by symmetrical chronic inflammation and weakness of proximal muscles. Dermatomyositis (DM) is one of the IIMs and may occur in both adults and children. This is a rare case of DM, of a 5 year old boy who presented with urticarial skin rash and subcutaneous calcinosis. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0) Conflict of interest: None declared | Source of funding: Nil | DOI: http://dx.