A comparison of pre-operative and post-operative use of 10% lignocaine aerosol for post-tonsillectomy pain relief in paediatric patients

Background: Tonsillectomy surgery is most commonly carried out in paediatric age group.  Pain relief after tonsillectomy in children remains a dilemma for anaesthesia. Rapid recovery from anaesthesia and return of protective relflexes are desirable earliest. There are conventional methods for pain relief post-tonsillectomy but use of local anaesthetic agents provide pain relief without any adverse effect. Hence we carried out our study in 4-12 years of age group and compare efficacy of pre-operative and post-operative 10% lignocaine aerosol for post-tonsillectomy pain relief.Methods: After institutional approval and informed consent 75 ASA I AND II children in 4-12 years of age group undergoing tonsillectomy were taken. In group A children did not receive any local anaesthetic whereas in group B children received 10% lignocaine aerosol pre-operative 3 minutes prior tonsillectomy and group C children received post-tonsillectomy aerosol in tonsillar fossa raw area. Anaesthetic management was standardized. Post-operative pain assessment done via behavioural scale.Results: The mean age, weight and duration of surgeries were not significantly different when compared in all three groups. In both study group B and C duration of analgesia is comparable in postoperative period. In both group no analgesia required upto 3 hours after surgery. In group C recovery was delayed compared to group B.Conclusions: The use of 10% lignocaine aerosol is easy, safe and effective method for post-tonsillectomy pain relief in paediatrics.

Assessment of flood protection strategies for combined critical infrastructure failure and hurricane/storm surge events in the Meadowlands area

As a result of a wide-reaching comprehensive post-Sandy NJIT project entitled Flood Mitigation Engineering Resource Center (FMERC) , a detailed investigation of alternative measures for flood mitigation in the Meadowlands area was completed in June 2014. The project involved the assessment of flood impacts, and the evaluation of a range of structural and non-structural capital improvement measures, maintenance, operations and regulatory measures, and broad system design and redundancy measures. The basic objective of this thesis is to develop an innovative procedure for the enumeration and simulation of probability-weighted combined events, e.g., Oradell dam failure under various scenarios (sunny day, water level, etc.) along with a super storm event at various time staging levels. The approach broadens the analytical arsenal available to policy-makers for the purpose of comprehensive risk and resiliency analysis and the selection of optimal protection alternatives. The methodology includes data analysis done with the help of software like Arc GIS and Hazuz MH. Using GIS simulations, the FMERC proposed solutions e.g., Arc wall are simulated under combined event scenarios in order to identify possible modifications or adjustments for maximum risk reduction. An outcome of this research is the development of an empirical approach for simulating combined events and adaptation strategies derived to provide a more comprehensive level of protection

Universal dynamics of biological pattern formation in spatio-temporal morphogen variations

In biological systems, chemical signals termed morphogens self-organize into patterns that are vital for many physiological processes. As observed by Turing in 1952, these patterns are in a state of continual development, and are usually transitioning from one pattern into another. How do cells robustly decode these spatio-temporal patterns into signals in the presence of confounding effects caused by unpredictable or heterogeneous environments? Here, we answer this question by developing a general theory of pattern formation in spatio-temporal variations of ‘pre-pattern’ morphogens, which determine gene-regulatory network parameters. Through mathematical analysis, we identify universal dynamical regimes that apply to wide classes of biological systems. We apply our theory to two paradigmatic pattern-forming systems, and predict that they are robust with respect to non-physiological morphogen variations. More broadly, our theoretical framework provides a general approach to classify the emergent dynamics of pattern-forming systems based on how the bifurcations in their governing equations are traversed

A study of the formation constants of ternary and quaternary complexes of some bivalent transition metals

The formation of hetero-ligand 1:1:1, M(II)-Opda-Sal/Gly ternary and 1:1:1:1, M(II)-Opda-Sal-Gly quaternary complexes, where M(II) = Ni, Cu, Zn and Cd; Opda = o‑phenylenediamine, Sal = salicylic acid, Gly = glycine, was studied pH-metrically in aqueous medium. The formation constants for the resulting ternary and quaternary complexes were evaluated at a constant ionic strength, μ = 0.20 mol dm-3 and temperature, 30±0.1 °C. The order of the formation constants in terms of the metal ion for both type of complexes was found to be Cu(II) > Ni(II) > Zn(II) > Cd(II). This order was explained based on the increasing number of fused rings, the coordination number of the metal ions, the Irving – William order and the stability of various species. The expected species formed in solution were pruned with the Fortran IV program SPEPLOT and the stability of the ternary and quaternary complexes is explained

Hypothalamic and amygdalar cell lines differ markedly in mitochondrial rather than nuclear encoded gene expression

BACKGROUND: Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) plays an important role in regulating the mammalian stress response. Two of the most extensively studied neuronal populations that express CRH are in the hypothalamus and amygdala. Both regions are involved in the stress response, but the amygdala is also involved in mediating response to fear and anxiety. Given that both hypothalamus and amygdala have overlapping functions, but their CRH-expressing neurons may respond differently to a given perturbation, we sought to identify differentially expressed genes between two neuronal cell types, amygdalar AR-5 and hypothalamic IVB cells. Thus, we performed a microarray analysis. Our hypothesis was that we would identify differentially expressed transcription factors, coregulators and chromatin-modifying enzymes. RESULTS: A total of 31,042 genes were analyzed, 10,572 of which were consistently expressed in both cell lines at a 95% confidence level. Of the 10,572 genes, 2,320 genes in AR-5 were expressed at ≥ 2-fold relative to IVBs, 1,104 genes were expressed at ≥2-fold in IVB relative to AR-5 and 7,148 genes were expressed at similar levels between the two cell lines. The greatest difference was in six mitochondrial DNA-encoded genes, which were highly abundant in AR-5 relative to IVB cells. The relative abundance of these genes ranged from 413 to 885-fold according to the microarray results. Differential expression of these genes was verified by RTqPCR. The differentially expressed mitochondrial genes were cytochrome b (MT-CYB), cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 and 2 (MT-CO1 and MT-CO2) and NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase chain 1, 2, and 3 (MT-ND1, MT-ND2, MT-ND3). CONCLUSION: As expected, the array revealed differential expression of transcription factors and coregulators; however the greatest difference between the two cell lines was in genes encoded by the mitochondrial genome. These genes were abundant in AR-5 relative to IVBs. At present, the reason for the marked difference is unclear. The cells may differ in mtDNA copy number, number of mitochondria, or regulation of the mitochondrial genome. The specific functions served by having such different levels of mitochondrial expression have not been determined. It is possible that the greater expression of the mitochondrial genes in the amygdalar cells reflects higher energy requirements than in the hypothalamic cell line

The role of caking in optimising the performance of a concertinaed ceramic filtration membrane

Membrane filtration is a process of separating particles from fluids. Over time, particles are trapped within the membrane structure and on the membrane surface, forming a cake. In this paper, we develop a mathematical model for the transient blocking dynamics in a concertinaed filtration device composed of angled porous membranes and dead-ends. We examine how the inclusion of particles affects the flow dynamics, and we uncover potential inaccuracies in relying on flux–throughput curves to distinguish between caking and internal blocking dynamics. Moreover, we show that optimal filtration performance strongly depends on both the performance metric and the membrane configuration. Finally, to optimise the use of membrane area, we introduce a method for deriving a non-uniform permeance that ensures constant initial cake growth

Analyzing Session Laws of the State of North Carolina: An Automated Approach Using Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing

This exploratory study aims to automatically find the common themes and topics in North Carolina’s 3,01,328 session laws for a period of over hundred years from 1867 to 1968 and group the laws within identified topics. I specifically answer four research questions: (1) identifying the topics in the entire corpus; (2) finding the difference between the topics in private and public laws; (3) finding the difference between topics over time; and (4) discovering topics that may denote racially based legislation. To address the research questions and discovering topics in session laws, I adapt Latent Dirichlet Allocation, an unsupervised machine learning technique for topic modelling. I find that the entire corpus can be grouped into 28 different topics which vary in proportion between sections and decades. I also find that some topics were similar to topics identified in racially based laws covered in literature.Master of Science in Information Scienc

Understanding how porosity gradients can make a better filter using homogenization theory

Filters whose porosity decreases with depth are often more efficient at removing solute from a fluid than filters with a uniform porosity. We investigate this phenomenon via an extension of homogenization theory that accounts for a macroscale variation in microstructure. In the first stage of the paper, we homogenize the problems of flow through a filter with a near-periodic microstructure and of solute transport owing to advection, diffusion and filter adsorption. In the second stage, we use the computationally efficient homogenized equations to investigate and quantify why porosity gradients can improve filter efficiency. We find that a porosity gradient has a much larger effect on the uniformity of adsorption than it does on the total adsorption. This allows us to understand how a decreasing porosity can lead to a greater filter efficiency, by lowering the risk of localized blocking while maintaining the rate of total contaminant removal

Quantification of cinnarizine and dimenhydrinate in tablet dosage form by simultaneous equation spectrophotometric method

Simple, accurate, precise, reproducible, requiring no prior separation and economical procedures for simultaneous estimation of Cinnarizine(CNZ) and Dimenhydrinate(DMH) in tablet dosage form have been developed. Method employs formation and solving of simultaneous equation using 250 nm and 277 nm as two analytical wavelengths for both drugs in methanol. CNZ and DMH at their respective ? max 250 nm and 277 nm shows linearity in a concentration range of 2-12 ?g /ml and 10-35 ?g /ml. Recovery studies for CNZ 98.9-100.75% and 96.16-100.69% for DMH in case of simultaneous equation method confirming the accuracy of the proposed method. The proposed method is recommended for routine analysis since it is rapid, simple, accurate and also sensitive and specific