Energy Intensity analysis of Indian manufacturing industries

Energy has been recognized as one of the key inputs for the economic growth and social development of a country. India being one of the largest and rapidly growing developing countries, there is an impending energy crisis which requires immediate measures to be adopted. In this situation the concept of Energy Intensity comes under special focus to ensure energy security in an environmentally sustainable way. Energy Intensity of Indian manufacturing industries is among the highest in the world and stands for enormous energy consumption. Hence, reducing the Energy Intensity of Indian manufacturing industries is one of the challenges. This study attempts to analyse the factors which influence the Energy Intensity of Indian manufacturing industries and how they can be improved to reduce the Energy Intensity. The paper considers five of the largest energy consuming manufacturing industrial sectors in India viz. Aluminium, Cement, Iron & Steel Industries, Textile Industries and Fertilizer Industries and conducts a detailed Energy Intensity analysis using the data from PROWESS database of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) for the period 2005-2014

A study on pregnancy outcome following previous one spontaneous abortion

Background: Pregnancy plays a unique role in the transformation of women towards completeness. Pregnancy should be considered a unique normal physiological episode in a woman’s life. However in some cases many twists and turns occur which alter the good outcome of pregnancy into a disaster. For those women who have had a previous unsuccessful outcome, pregnancy may bring a lot of inevitable negative emotions. The main objective of our study was to determine pregnancy outcome following previous one spontaneous abortionMethods: A prospective study was done on 756 patients. There were 252 patients in the case group consisting of pregnant females with the history of previous one spontaneous abortion (group A). There were two control groups - primigravida women (group B) & second gravida with history of previous successful pregnancy outcome (group C) who delivered subsequent to our study group. All the antenatal, post natal complications and modes of delivery were noted and compared between the three groups.Results: Pregnancy complications included: threatened miscarriage, premature rupture of membranes (PROM), preterm delivery, intra uterine growth restriction (IUGR), diabetes mellitus, abruption, placenta praevia, preeclampsia, eclampsia and postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). Statistical analysis was carried out using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 20. Statistical analysis showed that all the complications except preeclampsia, eclampsia, placenta praevia and diabetes were more in the study group than both the control groups (p<0.05). Risk of preeclampsia was more in primigravidae. Rate of caesarean section and instrumental delivery was also significantly increased in women with previous one spontaneous abortion. Conclusions: Women with a history of previous one spontaneous abortion are at an increased risk of complications in the next pregnancy. So careful surveillance should be provided to such women and not to be restricted only to females with history of recurrent pregnancy loss

Case report of mucha-habermann disease

Pityriasis lichenoides et varioliformis acuta (PLEVA), also known as a Mucha-Habermann disease, is an uncommon, idiopathic, and acquired dermatosis. The disease is characterized by erythematous, scaly, papules, and polymorphic lesions which often progresses to hemorrhagic necrosis and heals with varioliform scarring. A febrile ulceronecrotic variant of PLEVA, also termed pityriasis lichenoides (PL) with ulceronecrosis and hyperthermia (PLUH) or febrile ulceronecrotic Mucha-Habermann disease (FUMHD), is a severe variant of PLEVA. The disease is characterized by the acute onset of large, more destructive, coalescent papules, leading to ulceronecrotic skin lesions associated with high fever and other systemic symptoms. In spite of the presence of multiple treatment modalities with variable success rate, the disease has poor prognosis. Here, we report the case of a 17-year-old male patient who presented with typical features of FUMHD and responded well to systemic administration of corticosteroid therapy

Depletion of M. tuberculosis GlmU from infected murine lungs effects the clearance of the pathogen

M. tuberculosis N-acetyl-glucosamine-1-phosphate uridyltransferase (GlmUMtb) is a bi-functional enzyme engaged in the synthesis of two metabolic intermediates N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphate (GlcNAc-1-P) and UDP-GlcNAc, catalyzed by the C- and N-terminal domains respectively. UDP-GlcNAc is a key metabolite essential for the synthesis of peptidoglycan, disaccharide linker, arabinogalactan and mycothiols. While GlmUMtb was predicted to be an essential gene, till date the role of GlmUMtb in modulating the in vitro growth of Mtb or its role in survival of pathogen ex vivo / in vivo have not been deciphered. Here we present the results of a comprehensive study dissecting the role of GlmUMtb in arbitrating the survival of the pathogen both in vitro and in vivo. We find that absence of GlmUMtb leads to extensive perturbation of bacterial morphology and substantial reduction in cell wall thickness under normoxic as well as hypoxic conditions. Complementation studies show that the acetyl- and uridyl- transferase activities of GlmUMtb are independently essential for bacterial survival in vitro and GlmUMtb is also found to be essential for mycobacterial survival in THP-1 cells as well as in guinea pigs. Depletion of GlmUMtb from infected murine lungs, four weeks post infection, led to significant reduction in the bacillary load. The administration of Oxa33, a novel oxazolidine derivative that specifically inhibits GlmUMtb, to infected mice resulted in significant decrease in the bacillary load. Thus our study establishes GlmUMtb as a strong candidate for intervention measures against established tuberculosis infections

Thermal and electrical performance of uncooled, nature-cooled, and photovoltaic thermal module

The experimental study is aimed at analyzing photovoltaic module's thermal and electrical performance (PV) with back surface cooling under Malaysian tropical climate conditions. The performance of a passively cooled PV module integrated with biomaterial (moist coconut fiber) was compared with a photovoltaic thermal (PVT) system with water circulation at the rate of 0.02 kg s-1 and a reference PV module. The study observed that the passively cooled PV module succeeded in reducing the module surface temperature by more than 20%. However, the PVT system reduced the temperature only by less than 17%. The electrical energy efficiency was improved remarkably in the passively cooled PV module by almost 11%, but the PVT system managed to increase the electrical efficiency by 9%, approximately. It can be concluded that nature-inspired coconut fiber-based cooling can be one of the potential alternatives to active cooling methods

CHronic Rhinosinusitis Outcome MEasures (CHROME), developing a core outcome set for trials of interventions in chronic rhinosinusitis

Statement of Problem: Evaluating the effectiveness of treatments in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) have been limited by both a paucity of high quality randomised trials, and the heterogeneity of outcomes in those that have been reported. Core outcome sets (COS) are an agreed, standardized set of outcomes that should be measured and reported by future trials as a minimum and will facilitate future meta-analysis of trial results in systematic reviews (SRs). We set out to develop a core outcome set for interventions for adults with CRS. Method(s) of study: A long-list of potential outcomes was identified by a steering group utilising a literature review, thematic analysis of a wide range of stakeholders’ views and systematic analysis of currently available Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs). A subsequent e-Delphi process allowed 110 patients and healthcare practitioners to individually rate the outcomes in terms of importance, on a Likert scale. Main Results: After 2 rounds of the iterative Delphi process, the 54 initial outcomes were distilled down to a final core-outcome set of 15 items, over 4 domains. Principal Conclusions: The authors hope inclusion of these core outcomes in future trials will increase the value of research on interventions for CRS in adults. It was felt important to make recommendations regarding how these outcomes should be measured, although additional work is now required to further develop and revalidate existing outcome measures

Evaluation of anti-diabetic activity of Glucova Active Tablet on Type I and Type II diabetic model in rats

Background: Glucova Active Tablet is a proprietary Ayurvedic formulation with ingredients reported for anti-hyperglycemic, anti-hyperlipidemic activity and antioxidant properties. Objective: Evaluation of anti-diabetic activity of Glucova Active Tablet on Type I and Type II diabetic model in rats. Materials and Methods: Experimental Type I diabetes was induced in 24 albino rats with intra-peritoneal injection of streptozotocin (50 mg/kg). Type II diabetes was induced in 18 albino rats by intra-peritoneal injection of streptozotocin (35 mg/kg) along with high fat diet. The rats were divided in 5 groups for Type I model and 4 groups for Type II model. Normal control group was kept common for both experimental models. Glucova Active Tablet (108 mg/kg) treatment was provided for 28 days twice daily orally. Fasting blood glucose level, serum lipid profile and liver anti-oxidant parameters like superoxide dismutase and reduced glutathione was carried out in both experimental models. Pancreas histopathology was also done. Statistical analysis were done by ′analysis of variance′ test followed by post hoc Tukey′s test, with significant level of P < 0.05.Results and Discussion: Glucova Active Tablet showed significant effect on fasting blood glucose level. It also showed significant alteration in lipid profile and antioxidant parameters. Histopathology study revealed restoration of beta cells in pancreas in Glucova Active Tablet treated group. Conclusion: Finding of this study concludes that Glucova Active Tablet has shown promising anti-diabetic activity in Type I and Type II diabetic rats. It was also found showing good anti-hyperlipidemic activity and anti-oxidant property