Design of a Micropump

A micropump which can be produced using conventional production techniques and materials is presented. The micropump is capable of pumping both liquid and gas and is self-priming, which means that it can start pumping gas in a dry state and automatically fills with liquid. Basically, the micropump consists of two parts, a flat valve assembly with two passive membrane valves and an actuator placed on top. Two types of actuators have been applied to drive the pump; an electromagnetic actuator consisting of a magnet placed in a coil and secondly a disk. A disadvantage of the electromagnetic actuator was the relatively large volume occupied by the coil giving the micropump final dimensions of 10×10×8 mm3. Application of the piezoelectric actuator reduced these dimensions down to 12×12×2 mm3 with comparable performance

One-Dimensional Velocity Model of Sikkim Himalayan Region

A preliminary one-dimensional (1D) velocity model for Sikkim region has been developed using P- and S- wave travel-time data. The work has been performed in Seisan by taking 276 local earthquake events. Out of 276 events 76 best events has been selected for inversion. Most of the earthquake events are concentrated in depth range 10 to 40 km. The 1D velocity model obtained for the study region has six uniform layers with interfaces at depths of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 km with P wave velocity of 5.23, 5.35, 5.85, 6.59, 7.49, and 8.03 km/sec and S-wave velocity of 3.03, 3.08, 3.38, 3.37, 4.19, 4.61 km/sec, respectively. Mainly the events are more clustered in the area lying between latitude 27.2°N to 27.8°N and 88°E to 88.6°E, which shows high seismotectonic activity in the area due to the strain accumulation caused by dipping of Indian plate under the Eurasian plate. From velocity model it can be observed that largest velocity occurs at a depth of 40 km which shows the major lithological variation at this depth. The approximate thickness of the upper crust (granitic layer) is around 30km which can be noticed from the velocity data. The analysis depicts that the layers with thickness range 10-20 km and P wave velocity 5.35 km/s and thickness range 30-40 km with P wave velocity 6.59 km/s contains 19 hypocenter within them. This study will play a vital role in the assessment of regional tectonics, earthquake hazards and will provide evidence of the evolutionary model of the Sikkim Himalayan region. Keywords: Velocity model, Sikkim Himalayan region, Regional tectonic, Earthquake hazards, Evolutionary mode

An Assessment of Risk Attitude of Dairy Farmers in Uttaranchal (India)

The study was carried out in the Tarai area of Uttaranchal state to (i) identify the sources of risks perceived to be relevant by the farmers, (ii) examine farmers risk attitude, (iii) identify the factors that affect risk attitudes and (iv) evaluate the relative importance of different risk management strategies. Adverse effect on family health was perceived as a major source of risk by the dairy farmers, indicating the crucial role that surplus family labour plays in dairy farming in India. Lack of institutional support in dairying was also perceived to be a major source risk. Farmers risk attitude was measured using an attitudinal scale approach. The attitudinal scale consisted of a series of different risk management strategies and the farmers attitude was measured by his rating of each of those strategies. The analysis establishes a refined 22-item scale that can be applied by researchers to measure the risk attitude of dairy farm ers in Indian context. The refined scale has high degree of reliability as farmers responses to the items of the scale revealed a communal variation of 85%, which is higher than the minimally acceptable range of 65% to 70%. The study further revealed slight degree of risk aversion among farmers as revealed by the adoption such risk management tools like vaccinating the animals, calling a veterinarian, prevention of illness, maintaining hygienic conditions, and feeding adequate concentrates. Hence, there is a strong tendency on the part of the farmers to mitigate the production risks at farm level by adapting appropriate measures. But, a certain degree of risk taking behaviour was also seen in regard to certain risk management tools, especially livestock insurance. Regression analysis to ascertain relationship between socio-economic factors with risk attitudes, revealed largely insignificant influence of the variables considered in the study. Herd size and hours spent in off-farm work showed negative and significant impact upon the risk attitude score. Number of dependents showed significant and positive relationship with the total score. The variables included in the study explained 54.5 per cent of variation in risk attitude score. As regards to relative importance of different risk management tools, carrying adequate cash reserve was cited by the farmers as relevant, which is against the general perception that Indian farmers, mostly being subsistent can not afford to hold cash reserve to meet future crisis.Livestock Production/Industries,

Novel approaches for ungual and trans-ungual delivery of drugs

Topical therapy is commonly used for the treatment of nail diseases such as onychomycosis and nail psoriasis due to less severe side effects, non-invasiveness, direct drug delivery at the site of infection, patient compliance and lower cost of treatment. However, topical treatment is limited due to poor permeability and hard nature of nail plate. The main objective of first project was to investigate the penetrability of apremilast into and across the nail plate, folloby the preparation of a novel nail lacquer formulation to improve its ungual and trans-ungual permeation for the treatment of nail psoriasis. Dexpanthenol and salicylic acid were found to be the potential permeation enhancers. The final nail lacquer formulation shothe ability to form a water resistant film on nail plate and delivered significant amount of apremilast into the nail apparatus. In second project, iontophoresis technique was investigated to improve the ungual and trans-ungual permeation of itraconazole for the treatment of onychomycosis. In vitro and ex vivo permeation studies were performed following two protocols, a) pulse application of iontophoresis for 3 days (8 h/day), b) continuous application of iontophoresis for 24 h. The results of in vitro and ex vivo studies demonstrated the feasibility of iontophoresis technique to enhance nail delivery of itraconazole. Pulsed application of iontophoresis was found to be superior over continuous application of iontophoresis in all cases. In third project, a novel hyponychium pathway was investigated to deliver drugs directly into the ventral layer of nail plate and other part of nail apparatus using iontophoresis as an active technique. In vitro and ex vivo studies resulted that hyponychium pathway can be a viable option to deliver significant amount of drug into nail apparatus by the application of iontophoresis technique. In final project, pre-treatment with solid microneedle was investigated to improve the availability of drugs in nail apparatus. The application of microneedles has not been explored before to improve nail delivery of drugs. Microneedle pre-treatment is a novel approach which has already been used to deliver small and large molecules into the skin in a minimally invasive manner

Multimodal Imaging in a Case of Localized Suprachoroidal Hemorrhage

Purpose: To report a case of localized suprachoroidal hemorrhage presenting as a choroidal mass. Case Report: A 66-year-old lady presented with sudden onset pain in the right eye, one week following uneventful cataract surgery. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 20/160 and fundus examination showed a brown elevated choroidal mass temporal to the fovea in the right eye with normal retina and retinal vessels over it. The differential diagnoses considered were choroidal granuloma, melanoma, choroidal hemangioma, posterior scleritis, and localized suprachoroidal haemorrhage (SCH). Fluorescein angiography (FA) and indocyanine green (ICG) angiography were unremarkable except for mild disc leakage; B-scan showed a choroidal mass with high surface reflectivity and low internal reflectivity, and OCT showed an elevation of retinochoroidal complex with hyporeflective mass in the outer choroid with choroidal folds suggestive of SCH. Her systemic evaluation showed raised ESR and consolidation in the upper lobe of the right lung. The patient did not take any additional treatment for her eye and the lesion regressed and visual acuity improved to 20/30 in one month. Conclusion: Delayed spontaneous suprachoroidal hemorrhage can present as a choroidal mass. Multimodal imaging helps to differentiate it from other sight-threatening and life-threatening ocular diseases

Antihistamines for the common cold

Background : The common cold is an upper respiratory tract infection, most commonly caused by a rhinovirus. It affects people of all age groups and although in most cases it is self limiting, the common cold still causes significant morbidity. Antihistamines are commonly offered over the counter to relieve symptoms for patients affected by the common cold, however there is not much evidence of their efficacy. Objectives : To assess the effects of antihistamines on the common cold. Search methods : We searched CENTRAL (2015, Issue 6), MEDLINE (1948 to July week 4, 2015), EMBASE (2010 to August 2015), CINAHL (1981 to August 2015), LILACS (1982 to August 2015) and Biosis Previews (1985 to August 2015). Selection criteria We selected randomised controlled trials (RCTs) using antihistamines as monotherapy for the common cold. We excluded any studies with combination therapy or using antihistamines in patients with an allergic component in their illness. Data collection and analysis : Two authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. We collected adverse effects information from the included trials. Main results : We included 18 RCTs, which were reported in 17 publications (one publication reports on two trials) with 4342 participants (of which 212 were children) suffering from the common cold, both naturally occurring and experimentally induced. The interventions consisted of an antihistamine as monotherapy compared with placebo. In adults there was a short-term beneficial effect of antihistamines on severity of overall symptoms: on day one or two of treatment 45% had a beneficial effect with antihistamines versus 38% with placebo (odds ratio (OR) 0.74, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.60 to 0.92). However, there was no difference between antihistamines and placebo in the mid term(three to four days) to long term(six to 10 days). When evaluating individual symptoms such as nasal congestion, rhinorrhoea and sneezing, there was some beneficial effect of the sedating antihistamines compared to placebo (e.g. rhinorrhoea on day three: mean difference (MD) -0.23, 95% CI -0.39 to -0.06 on a four-or five-point severity scale; sneezing on day three: MD 0.35, 95% CI -0.49 to -0.20 on a four-point severity scale), but this effect is clinically non-significant. Adverse events such as sedation were more commonly reported with sedating antihistamines although the differences were not statistically significant. Only two trials included children and the results were conflicting. The majority of the trials had a low risk of bias although some lacked sufficient trial quality information. Authors' conclusions : Antihistamines have a limited short-term (days one and two of treatment) beneficial effect on severity of overall symptoms but not in the mid to long term. There is no clinically significant effect on nasal obstruction, rhinorrhoea or sneezing. Although side effects are more common with sedating antihistamines, the difference is not statistically significant. There is no evidence of effectiveness of antihistamines in children

Duration of streptozotocin-induced diabetes differentially affects p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphorylation in renal and vascular dysfunction

Background: In the present study we tested the hypothesis that progression of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes (14-days to 28-days) would produce renal and vascular dysfunction that correlate with altered p38- mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38-MAPK) phosphorylation in kidneys and thoracic aorta. Methods: Male Sprague Dawley rats (350-400 g) were randomized into three groups: sham (N = 6), 14-days diabetic (N = 6) and 28-days diabetic rats (N = 6). Diabetes was induced using a single tail vein injection of STZ (60 mg/kg, I.V.) on the first day. Rats were monitored for 28 days and food, water intake and plasma glucose levels were noted. At both 14-days and 28-days post diabetes blood samples were collected and kidney cortex, medulla and aorta were harvested from each rat. Results: The diabetic rats lost body weight at both 14-days (-10%) and 28-days (-13%) more significantly as compared to sham (+10%) group. Glucose levels were significantly elevated in the diabetic rats at both 14-days and 28-days post-STZ administration. Renal dysfunction as evidenced by renal hypertrophy, increased plasma creatinine concentration and reduced renal blood flow was observed in 14-days and 28-days diabetes. Vascular dysfunction as evidenced by decreased carotid blood flow was observed in 14-days and 28-days diabetes. We observed an up-regulation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), prepro endothelin-1 (preproET-1) and phosphorylated p38-MAPK in thoracic aorta and kidney cortex but not in kidney medulla in 28-days diabetes group. Conclusion: The study provides evidence that diabetes produces vascular and renal dysfunction with a profound effect on signaling mechanisms at later stage of diabetes. © 2005 Chen et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

A Blockchain-based Framework for Transparent Medical supply in Covid-19 Pandemic

The sudden occurrence of COVID-19 has made the world into big trouble. It is known that COVID-19 is a highly contagious and deadly virus. People initially infected have no symptoms, while some people are showing no symptoms. In this pandemic the government has showed a strong interest in a smartphone contact monitoring software that can assist in automating of discovering all recent contacts of newly discovered sick people. In this article, we are proposing our app covid suraksha yantra. We have used React for the frontend framework and node js for backend framework. We have given certain 5 quizzes about covid-19 compared to other recently developed apps. Comparative analysis of   various application developed for Covid-19 has been studied and a clear overview of these application has been presented in this article and finally we have introduced a blockchain framework known as Covid-19 Suraksha Yantra for medical supply. In this website we also provide the details of slots available for Covid vaccine with proper address, availability, duration, fee Type. We will also provide tracking of medicine across India with the help of blockchain technology

A study to assess awareness on eye donation and willingness to pledge eyes for donation in adult population in Gwalior district (M.P.), India

Background: Purpose of current study was to determine the awareness of eye donation and willingness to pledge eyes for donation in the government colonies (Central and state govt. colonies) of district Gwalior (M.P.). Corneal diseases constitute a significant cause of visual impairment and blindness in the developing world. Although Strategies to prevent corneal blindness are likely to be more cost effective, visual rehabilitation by Corneal Transplantation remains the major treatment for restoring sight in those who already have corneal blindness.Methods: The present study was undertaken from July 2012 to Dec. 2012 with a total population 2192 was surveyed of people residing in central and state govt. Colonies of district Gwalior in which total of 500 houses were taken. The total population aged 30 years and above were interrogated by a predesigned questionnaire regarding awareness of eye donation, any eye related problem and willingness to pledge eyes for donation.Results: The total respondents were 947 in which 481 (50.79%) were Males and 466 (49.21%) were females. The awareness of eye donation was present in 590 (62.30%) while 357 (37.70%) were not aware.Conclusion: The awareness regarding eye donation should be increased so that the public’s attitude would be more favorable to facilitate an increase in the number of corneas available for transplantation.

Tree diversity and regeneration status in the different forest types of Kotla watershed (Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, India)

The present study aimed to assess the diversity and regeneration status of tree species in different forest types viz., Pinus forest (PF), Pinus-Oak mixed forest (POF) and Deodar forest (DF) of Kotla watershed (Barkot, Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand). The data were collected through quadrat method and analyzed quantitatively. A total of 28 tree species, belonging to 21 families were recorded in the sampling area (3 forests  10 plots in each  plot size 400 m2). Fagaceae, Pinaceae, Ericaceae, Fabaceae and Juglandaceae were the major families (in terms of number of species). The species-area curves (SACs) of PF and DF reached an asymptote while it predicted more species (din not reach asymptote) in case of POF. The resulted values of different diversity indices (i.e., Dominance, Simpson, Shannon, Evenness, Margalef, and Equitability) revealed that the POF was most diverse (in tree diversity) followed by PF and DF. The ranked species abundance (RSA) curve of POF was log normal type but geometric series type for PF and DF. The density-diameter curves (d-d curves) was reverse J-shaped for POF while in case of PF and DF, the higher densities were observed for middle DBH classes in comparison to lowest and highest DBH classes. The overall regeneration status of the forests in the area was fair (25.8% tree, 18.6% saplings and 55.6% seedlings). The present study provides a deeper understanding of tree diversity pattern and regeneration status from a pocket of Indian Himalayan Region (IHR)