Correlation between associating factors of obstructive airway disease with obstructive sleep apnoea

Background: Several researchers reported that OSA may contribute to asthma symptoms and severity. But, the relation between associating factors of obstructive airway disease with obstructive sleep apnoea was not well documented. Therefore, the present study has been undertaken to investigate the relation between associating factors of OAD with obstructive sleep apnoea.Methods: Pulmonary Function Test was done for assessing air flows and measuring absolute and predicted values of FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC and MMEF. PFT was interpreted as normal if FEV1/FVC >70 as per GOLD and >75 as per GINA, with normal FEV1 and normal FVC. Decreased FEV1, Decreased FVC, Decreased FEV1/ FVC, predicted (0.05). The Sleep Stages in the study group (OAD and No OAD group) was also statistically insignificant except for Stage III. The PFT-FEV1was found to be statistically significant (p=0.043) when compared between OAD group and in the No OAD group.Conclusions: Due to the consequences of the overlap syndrome, it is recommended to actively search for existence of OSA, and to treat it with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) concurrently with oxygen and optimal pharmacological treatment

Behaviour of Magnetic Tubes in Neutron Star's Interior

It is found from Maxwell's equations that the magnetic field lines are good analogues of relativistic strings. It is shown that the super-conducting current in the neutron star's interior causes local rotation of magnetic flux tubes carrying quantized flux.Comment: 6 pages, no figure

Evaluation of triglyceride: HDL-C ratio and Non-HDL-C as harbingers of increased cardiovascular risk in metabolic syndrome

Background: Metabolic syndrome is an aggregate of conditions that together increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Dyslipidemia consisting of elevated triglyceride, decreased HDL, and altered triglyceride to high density lipoprotein- Cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio is useful in predicting cardiometabolic risk and insulin resistance. The present study aimed to compile further evidence for clinical utility of TG/HDL-C ratio and Non HDL-C as simple, cost effective tools for early identification of cardiovascular disease risk in metabolic syndrome.Methods: This study was carried out with hundred subjects. Fifty of these subjects were diagnosed with metabolic syndrome according to National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III; while other fifty were age and gender matched healthy control subjects.Results: The impact of cardiometabolic markers on metabolic syndrome was assessed separately in men and women by applying Mann Whitney ‘U’ test. Study showed highly significant increase in TG, HDL, TC/TG and TG/HDL-C ratio in women compared to men with p<0.01. The odds ratio of TG/HDL for women showed the highest ratio of 6, 95% CI (1.5225 to 23.6401) p=0.006 compared to men 4.9583, 95% CI (1.0088-24.3711), p=0.004.Conclusions: This study demonstrated that TG/HDL-C ratio and Non HDL-C are strongly associated with metabolic syndrome in urban population. In comparison, TG/HDL-C is a better predictor of metabolic syndrome than non-HDL-C

Investigation of magnetic anisotropy in Co nanoparticles using ferromagnetic resonance technique

Using ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) technique, we have investigated the temperature dependence and angular dependence of line width and resonance magnetic field of Co nanoparticles capped with novel alkane carboxylic acids of varying chain lengths. The magnetic properties such as blocking temperature and anisotropy sensitively depend on the chain length as evidenced by the temperature dependence of line width. These results indicate that the magnetic properties of these samples are critically governed by the interparticle interactions which are decided by the chain length. The presence of anisotropy even up to very high temperature above the blocking temperature observed in these studies confirms the presence of inter-particle magnetic interactions as well as intra-particle exchange interaction between the core and shell regions as evidenced by our earlier ac susceptibility and transverse susceptibility measurements on similar system

Foam-based synthesis of cobalt nanoparticles and their subsequent conversion to Co<SUB>core</SUB>Ag<SUB>shell</SUB> nanoparticles by a simple transmetallation reaction

Cobalt nanoparticles have been synthesized via a novel, foam-based protocol. The foam is formed from an aqueous mixture of Co2+ ions, an anionic surfactant and oleic acid where the cobalt ions are electrostatically entrapped by the surfactant at the thin borders between the foam bubbles and their junctions. The entrapped cobalt ions may be reduced in-situ by a moderately strong reducing agent resulting in the formation of nanoparticles with the foam playing the role of a template. The nanoparticles are immediately capped and stabilized against oxidation by oleic acid present in the foam matrix. The oleic acid-capped Co nanoparticles can be redispersed either in an aqueous or organic medium making this procedure very attractive. The cobalt nanoparticles are readily converted to CocoreAgshell nanoparticles by simple addition of a silver salt to the Co nanoparticle solution, the cobalt atoms on the nanoparticle surface acting as localized reducing agents for the silver ions

Effect of halogen addition to monolayer protected gold nanoparticles

The effects of N-halosuccinimide and halogen addition to monolayer protected gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) dispersed in organic media are described. Contrary to the expectation that nanoparticles dispersed in organic media are stable against aggregation, N-iodosuccinimide addition induced aggregation of octadecylamine capped gold nanoparticles in chloroform or toluene. It was observed that even KI and CuI addition could bring about the aggregation though they are very sparingly soluble in organic solvents. It was also found that even molecular iodine could bring about the above mentioned aggregation. Interestingly, when CuI is used the aggregated structures readily convert to very thin flat nanostructures upon exposure to an electron beam or UV irradiation. In fact when the aggregation is induced by the addition of KI or N-iodosuccinamide we do not see the flattening of the aggregated structures exemplifying the important role of Cu ions in making these flat structures

A facile liquid foam based synthesis of nickel nanoparticles and their subsequent conversion to Ni<SUB>core</SUB>Ag<SUB>shell</SUB> particles: structural characterization and investigation of magnetic properties

A facile route for the synthesis of nickel nanoparticles in stable aqueous foams is reported. The Ni nanoparticles were roughly 12-15 nm in size and were stable as aqueous suspensions or powders when oleic acid was used as a capping agent. These Ni nanoparticles were subsequently coated with a silver shell in view of the extra stability and the enhanced manipulative ability afforded by the silver nanocoating. This was accomplished by a simple transmetallation reaction wherein the nanoparticle surface nickel atoms act as localized reducing agents for the silver ions in solution. As the silver shell is formed through the surface reaction a reduction in the average size of the Nicore occurs. After the core-shell structure formation, the Nicore has an average diameter of 10-20 nm while the Agshell has a thickness of 2-4 nm. The pristine oleic acid coated Ni and NicoreAgshell nanoparticles were probed for their magnetic characteristics by a vibrating sample magnetometer. The nascent, oleic acid coated Ni nanoparticles display a low superparamagnetic blocking temperature, TB, of 20 K. The field dependent magnetic behaviour above and below TB displays the standard features corresponding to superparamagnetism, as expected for very small Ni crystallites suggesting again that each 12 nm particle is polycrystalline. The magnetic contribution in the NicoreAgshell system comes from only the Ni core and predictably, the blocking temperature of this system is below 12 K due to the smaller size of the Ni core

Investigation of magnetic anisotropy in Co nanoparticles using ferromagnetic resonance technique

Using Ferromagnetic Resonance (FMR) technique, we have investigated the temperature dependence and angular dependence of line width and resonance magnetic field of Co nanoparticles capped with novel alkane carboxylic acids of varying chain lengths. The magnetic properties such as blocking temperature and anisotropy sensitively depend on the chain length as evidenced by the temperature dependence of line width. These results indicate that the magnetic properties of these samples are critically governed by the inter-particle interactions which are decided by the chain length. The presence of anisotropy even up to very high temperature above the blocking temperature observed in these studies confirms the presence of inter-particle magnetic interactions as well as intra-particle exchange interaction between the core and shell regions as evidenced by our earlier ac susceptibility and transverse susceptibility measurements on similar system

Spontaneous emission of an atom placed near a nanobelt of elliptical cross-section

Spontaneous emission of an atom (molecule) placed near a nanocylinder of elliptical cross-section of an arbitrary composition is studied. The analytical expressions have been obtained for the radiative and nonradiative channels of spontaneous decay and investigated in details.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figure