Mycobacteremia in tuberculosis patients with HIV infection

Background: Mycobacteremia in HIV positive tuberculosis patients is associated with extra-pulmonary tuberculosis and disseminated tuberculosis. Objective: To study the occurrence of mycobacteremia among HIV-infected patients with tuberculosis (both pulmonary and extra-pulmonary forms) using radiometric BACTEC method. Methods: HIV positive patients admitted to the Government Hospital of Thoracic Medicine with a clinical diagnosis of tuberculosis were screened. HIV serology was reconfirmed using ELISA (two different tests) at Tuberculosis Research Centre. Five ml of venous blood was collected on the day of admission to the ward before start of anti-tuberculosis therapy. Results: Of the 105 patients screened, 85 were were found to be eligible for analysis. Patients were aged between 20-40 years, with a male preponderance (5:1). Pulmonary tuberculosis was the predominant form of tuberculosis (85%), while 15 % had associated extra-pulmonary involvement. Eight-four percent of the patients had CD4 counts of less than 200 cells/mm3, with 42% being below 50 cells/mm3. Four of the 85 patients were blood culture positive; three were identified as M.tuberculosis and one as Mycobacterium phlei. Conclusions: Mycobacteremia was detected in 4% of HIV positive patients with tuberculosis. All of them were immunosuppressed with CD4 counts of <50 cells/m3. More work needs to be done in India to understand the risk factors and outcome of patients with mycobacteremia

Mapping and linking supply- and demand-side measures in climate-smart agriculture. A review

Climate change and food security are two of humanity’s greatest challenges and are highly interlinked. On the one hand, climate change puts pressure on food security. On the other hand, farming significantly contributes to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. This calls for climate-smart agriculture—agriculture that helps to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Climate-smart agriculture measures are diverse and include emission reductions, sink enhancements, and fossil fuel offsets for mitigation. Adaptation measures include technological advancements, adaptive farming practices, and financial management. Here, we review the potentials and trade-offs of climate-smart agricultural measures by producers and consumers. Our two main findings are as follows: (1) The benefits of measures are often site-dependent and differ according to agricultural practices (e.g., fertilizer use), environmental conditions (e.g., carbon sequestration potential), or the production and consumption of specific products (e.g., rice and meat). (2) Climate-smart agricultural measures on the supply side are likely to be insufficient or ineffective if not accompanied by changes in consumer behavior, as climate-smart agriculture will affect the supply of agricultural commodities and require changes on the demand side in response. Such linkages between demand and supply require simultaneous policy and market incentives. It, therefore, requires interdisciplinary cooperation to meet the twin challenge of climate change and food security. The link to consumer behavior is often neglected in research but regarded as an essential component of climate-smart agriculture. We argue for not solely focusing research and implementation on one-sided measures but designing good, site-specific combinations of both demand- and supply-side measures to use the potential of agriculture more effectively to mitigate and adapt to climate change

Tool path influence on electric pulse aided deformation during incremental sheet metal forming

Titanium and its alloys are difficult to form at room temperature due to their high flow stress. Super plastic deformation of Ti alloys involves low strain rate forming at very high temperatures which need special tooling which can withstand high temperatures. It was observed that when high current density electric pulse is applied during deformation it reduces the flow stress through electron-dislocation interaction. This phenomenon is known as electro-plasticity. In the present work, importance of tool configuration to enhance the formability without much resistive heating is demonstrated for Incremental Sheet Metal Forming (ISMF). Tool configuration is selected to minimize the current carrying zone in DC pulse aided incremental forming to enhance the formability due to electro plasticity and the same is demonstrated by forming two pyramid shaped components of 30° and 45° wall angles using a Titanium alloy sheet of 0.6 mm thickness. Load measurement indicated that a critical current density is essential for the electro-plasticity to be effective and the same is realized with the load and temperature measurements

Ultrasound-assisted chitosan-surfactant nanostructure assemblies: towards maintaining postharvest quality of tomatoes

A novel ultrasound-assisted chitosan–surfactant nanostructure assembly was developed to allow better delivery of chitosan particles into intact fruit tissues for extension of postharvest life. Three solutions of 1 % chitosan–surfactant nanostructure assembly with micelle sizes of 400, 600 and 800 nm were prepared and applied as an edible coating on tomatoes. The fruits were stored at 15 ± 2 °C and 70–80 % relative humidity for 20 days. The indicators of tomato ripening, which included loss of firmness, decline of titratable acidity, decline of chlorophyll content and increase in soluble solid content, were delayed in the treated fruits in comparison to the control (p  0.05)