Cooling Water Pump Gearbox Diagnostics, Failure and Remedial Actions

Case StudiesFailure of an industrial scale bevel gear assemble in 2.5 years of its commissioning. The gear box drives a pumps rated at 16240m3/h at 47.5 meter of head. The unit developed an abnormal noise with slightly higher impacting (vibration waveform) on the gearbox. However upon inspection, increased back-lash (still in recommended limit) was observed on the unit and the machine was kept in operation. During a startup in March 2014, high cyclic impacting was observed in vibration waveform which indicated gearbox wear/damage. Upon inspection leading edge teeth of the bevel gearbox was found broken. Further investigation revealed increased backlash and change in contact area of the gears. The case study covers the complete RCA of GB failure and the remedial action taken on similar units installed on site

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication

Investigating the effect of Aspergillus niger inoculated press mud (biofertilizer) on the potential of enhancing maize (Zea mays. L) yield, potassium use efficiency and potassium agronomic efficiency

Globally field application of mineral potassium (K) fertilizer has grown, followed by reduced K use efficiency (KUE) and K agronomic efficiency (KAE) which ultimately leads to environmental pollution and economic loss. The soils of Pakistan have a low K level due to a higher proportion is present in an unavailable form. The objective of the current study was to isolate efficient plant growth-promoting fungus to sustainably manage huge burden of sugar industry waste press mud into a productive biofertilizer. K from biofertilizer was then evaluated in different treatments for maize biological yield, grain yield, harvest index (HI), K uptake in different maize parts, KUE and KAE in comparison to mineral fertilizer (MF). The efficiency of treatment was measured on higher KUE and KAE. In-vitro studies revealed that A. niger PM-4 was found to solubilize phosphate (389 ug/ml) and zinc (115 ug/ml) from insoluble tri-calcium phosphate and zinc oxide, respectively, at a wider temperature and pH range. The strain was also found to inhibit the production of aflatoxins and its inoculation into press mud produced non-phytotoxic and mature biofertilizer with germination index 96.5%. Bio-augmentation of press mud with A. niger shortens maturity period with improved nutrient contents. Higher grain yield and harvest index of maize were achieved with a higher amount of incorporated K from mineral and biofertilizer T5(100%Org+50%MF) than any other treatment. However, higher KUE and KAE were found in the following order: T6 > T5 > T2 > T3 > T4 > T1, demonstrating the integrated and balanced use of K from mineral and biofertilizer without threatening the environment

Prognostically significant fusion oncogenes in Pakistani patients with adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia and their association with disease biology and outcome

Background and objectives: Chromosomal abnormalities play an important role in genesis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and have prognostic implications. Five major risk stratifying fusion genes in ALL are BCR-ABL, MLL-AF4, ETV6-RUNX11, E2A-PBX1 and SIL-TAL1. This work aimed to detect common chromosomal translocations and associated fusion oncogenes in adult ALL patients and study their relationship with clinical features and treatment outcome. Methods: We studied fusion oncogenes in 104 adult ALL patients using RT-PCR and interphase-FISH at diagnosis and their association with clinical characteristics and treatment outcome. Results: Five most common fusion genes i.e. BCR-ABL (t 9; 22), TCF3-PBX1 (t 1; 19), ETV6-RUNX1 (t 12; 21), MLL-AF4 (t 4; 11) and SIL-TAL1 (Del 1p32) were found in 82/104 (79%) patients. TCF3-PBX1 fusion gene was associated with lymphadenopathy, SIL-TAL1 positive patients had frequent organomegaly and usually presented with a platelets count of less than . Survival of patients with fusion gene ETV6-RUNX1 was better when compared to patients harboring other genes. MLL-AF4 and BCR-ABL positivity characterized a subset of adult ALL patients with aggressive clinical behaviour and a poor outcome. Conclusions: This is the first study from Pakistan which investigated the frequency of5 fusion oncogenes in adult ALL patients, and their association with clinical features, treatment response and outcome. Frequencies of some of the oncogenes were different from those reported elsewhere and they appear to be associated with distinct clinical characteristics and treatment outcome. This information will help in the prognostic stratification and risk adapted management of adult ALL patients.Noreen Sabir, Zafar Iqbal, Aamer Aleem, Tashfeen Awan, Tahir Naeem, Sultan Asad, Ammara H Tahir, Muhammad Absar, Rana MW Hasanato, Sulman Basit, Muhammad Azhar Chishti, Muhammad Faiyaz Ul-Haque, Ahmad Muktar Khalid, Muhammad Farooq Sabar, Mahmood Rasool, Sajjad Karim, Mahwish Khan, Baila Samreen, Muhammad Hassan Siddiqi, Saba Shahzadi, Sana Shahbaz, Agha Shabbir Ali, Amer Mahmood, Muhammad Akram, Tariq Saeed, Arsalan Saleem, Danish Mohsin, Ijaz Hussain Shah, Muhammad Khalid, Muhammad Asif, Mudassar Iqbal, Tanveer Akhta