Malignant Melanoma of Nose and Paranasal Sinuses: 2 Case Reports

Malignant melanoma is one of the rare and highly aggressive diseases of the sinonasal cavity. High index of suspicion is required for diagnosis as the patient usually presents with non specific signs and symptoms. In the natural course of the disease, higher rate of loco regional recurrences and distant metastasis are seen making the overall prognosis of disease very poor. In reviewing the various treatment modalities used in the past, surgical resection of the tumour with postoperative radiotherapy is preferred one. Advances in surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy don’t have any impact on improved survival, which remains poor in this disease. We report two cases of malignant melanoma, which were treated at our institute

Calcium Complex Grease as a Suitable Substrate for Gas Liquid Chromatography

905-90

Unusual Esophageal Twin Foreign Body (Glass Marble) in a Neonate

Although ingestion of foreign body in oesophagus is common in pediatric age group, its occurrence in neonatal period is rare. Etiology behind these foreign bodies may be negligence or homicidal attempt for unwanted child. A high index of suspicion is required for diagnosis, whenever the neonate presents with symptoms related either to the respiratory or gastrointestinal tract. Delayed diagnosis can result in serious complications. We report a very unusual case of twin foreign body (glass marble) in oesophagus in a 30 days old female neonate. The peculiarity of this case concerns the unusual foreign body and age of the patient

Study on eggs of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) during incubation in the controlled laboratory conditions

Study on newly laid eggs of Japanese quail Coturnix coturnix japonica was undertaken for a period of 18 days on incubation in controlled laboratory conditions. The aim of the study was to evaluate the changes in egg weight, shell weight, yolk weight and embryo weight throughout the period of incubation. It had been found that as the embryo grows, the egg weight slowly goes down while embryo weight goes on increasing day by day. The study inferred that the shift or reduction in weight of egg is attributable to the progressive growth of embryo which utilizes its yolk contents for its growth. Apart from this, the shell weight also reduced from first day to last day in order to facilitate hatching of the embryo

Glucosamine HCl-based solid dispersions to enhance the biopharmaceutical properties of acyclovir

The objective of the work presented here was to assess the feasibility of using glucosamine HCl as a solid-dispersion (SD) carrier to enhance the biopharmaceutical properties of a BCS class III/IV drug, acyclovir (ACV). The solid-dispersions of acyclovir and glucosamine HCl were prepared by an ethanol-based solvent evaporation method. The prepared formulations characterized by photomicroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transforms infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR), powder x-ray diffractometry (PXRD) and drug content analysis. The functional characterization of ACV-SD was performed by aqueous solubility evaluation, dissolution studies, fasted versus fed state dissolution comparison, ex vivo permeability, and stability studies. Photomicroscopy and SEM analysis showed different surface morphologies for pure ACV, glucosamine HCl and ACV-SD. The physical-chemical characterization studies supported the formation of ACV-SD. A 12-fold enhancement in the aqueous solubility of ACV was observed in the prepared solid dispersions, compared to pure ACV. Results from in vitro dissolution demonstrated a significant increase in the rate and extent of ACV dissolution from the prepared ACV-SD formulations, compared to pure ACV. The rate and extent of ACV permeability across everted rat intestinal membrane were also found to be significantly increased in the ACV-SD formulations. Under fed conditions, the rate and extent of the in vitro dissolution of ACV from the formulation was appreciably greater compared to fasted conditions. Overall, the results from the study suggest the feasibility of utilizing glucosamine HCl as a solid dispersion carrier/excipient for enhancement of biopharmaceutical properties of acyclovir, and similar drugs with low solubility/permeability characteristics

Preheating of Sinter Mix

The importance of gas permeability in sinter mix is emphasised with reference to productivity of the Sinter machine. Based on the favourable experience of preheating of Sinter mix in U.S.S.R., the Sinter Plant Number 2 of Bhilai, in association with RDCIS, Ranchi, has evolved a system of preheating the mix in the bunker with the steam, resulting in 10oC increase

Studies on factors influencing conception rate in rural cattle

The data of 14,937 farmers spread over 29 tehsils in 15 districts of six Indian states revealed mean conception rate as 55.96±0.31 %. State wise conception rate recorded in Bihar was 51.08±0.73%; Jharkhand; 62.03±0.63%; Maharashtra, 56.64±0.74%; Odisha, 59.24±0.91%; Punjab, 47.11±1.03%; Uttar Pradesh, 54.70±0.77% respectively, which was highly significant between the states. The education level of center in-charge, economic status of farmers, animal breed, animal parity, AI sequence and sire breed had significant effect on conception rate while effect of AI season did not significantly affect conception rate in rural animals across the states studied. It was recommended that due consideration need be given to consider effect of significant factors affecting conception rates while planning for improving conception rate in rural animals

TIRSPEC : TIFR Near Infrared Spectrometer and Imager

We describe the TIFR Near Infrared Spectrometer and Imager (TIRSPEC) designed and built in collaboration with M/s. Mauna Kea Infrared LLC, Hawaii, USA, now in operation on the side port of the 2-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT), Hanle (Ladakh), India at an altitude of 4500 meters above mean sea level. The TIRSPEC provides for various modes of operation which include photometry with broad and narrow band filters, spectrometry in single order mode with long slits of 300" length and different widths, with order sorter filters in the Y, J, H and K bands and a grism as the dispersing element as well as a cross dispersed mode to give a coverage of 1.0 to 2.5 microns at a resolving power R of ~1200. The TIRSPEC uses a Teledyne 1024 x 1024 pixel Hawaii-1 PACE array detector with a cutoff wavelength of 2.5 microns and on HCT, provides a field of view of 307" x 307" with a plate scale of 0.3"/pixel. The TIRSPEC was successfully commissioned in June 2013 and the subsequent characterization and astronomical observations are presented here. The TIRSPEC has been made available to the worldwide astronomical community for science observations from May 2014.Comment: 20 pages, 21 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Journal of Astronomical Instrumentatio