Hemoglobin E genotypes and fertility: a study among the Ahom of Upper Assam, India

Background: Differential fertility is reported in areas where prevalence of hemoglobin E (Hb E) is high. At this backdrop a representative Ahom sample from Upper Assam is studied to examine if differential fertility exist between Hb E and normal Hb A mothers and whether there is significant difference between them with regard to the hemoglobin (Hb) concentration.Methods: Detailed reproductive histories are collected from 119 Ahom couples followed by Hb typing by ‘Cellulose Acetate Gel’ electrophoresis (pH 8.9) and fetal hemoglobin (Hb F) determined by Acid Elution technique. Hb concentration (in g/dl) is measured by Sahley’s method. Results: The calculated Hb E allele frequencies for the Ahom male and the female subjects are 0.424 and 0.403 respectively. β-carrier frequency in the total sample is found to be 0.42%. There is no differential fertility observed between Hb A/Hb A (AA), Hb A/Hb E (AE) and Hb E/Hb E (EE) mothers. Reproductive performance of the couples revealed that the mothers with an Hb E complement either heterozygous or homozygous are more likely to have a spontaneous abortion or an infant mortality. Conclusions: It may be concluded that Hb E induced anemia may increase spontaneous abortion and infant mortality in AE and EE mothers

Pyrolysis and catalytic cracking of municipal plastic waste for recovery of gasoline range hydrocarbons

Plastic is an indispensable part of our daily life. Its production and consumption has been rising very rapidly due to its wide range of application. Due to its non biodegradable nature it cannot be easily disposed off. So, nowadays new technology is being used to treat the waste plasic. One of such process is pyrolysis. This paper describes non catalytic pyrolysis and catalytic cracking of plastic wastes into useful gasoline range hydrocarbons. Under the pyrolytic and cracking conditions the plastic wastes can be decomposed into three fractions: gas, liquid and solid residue. Here the main consideration is the recovery of liquid products which are composed of higher boiling point hydrocarbons. The waste plastics consisting of high density polyethylene (HDPE) was pyrolyzed in this study. Pyrolysis appears to be a technique that is able to reduce a bulky, high polluting industrial waste while producing energy and/or valuable chemical compounds. The pyrolysis of plastic wastes produces a whole spectrum of hydrocarbons including paraffins, olefins, naphthalenes and aromatics. By catalytic cracking more aromatics and naphthene in the range of C6-C8 which are valuable gasoline range hydrocarbons can be produced. Different catalysts like Silica Alumina, Modernite and Activated Carbon were used for catalytic cracking. The catalysts were used in different ratios with feed to find out the optimum range at which maximum yield occurs. The liquid product yield is about 60% in all the cases. In thermal pyrolysis, the product obtained gets solidified but in catalytic cracking good liquid product can be obtained which can be used as fuel. This application is further combined with technologies of municipal plastic wastes collection, classification and pretreatment at front end and product purification and testing at back end to determine the properties of the various products obtained

Retention of patients on antiretroviral therapy in the highlands of Papua New Guinea

Over 4 million HIV positive people are on antiretroviral therapy (ART) worldwide; the gap in access remains steep with over 20 million in need of life saving treatment. With proper access to HIV care and treatment services, HIV is no longer a life ending condition and can be managed as a chronic illness. This, however, requires a high level of adherence to an ART regimen for the rest of a patient's life making retention in ART programs of critical importance. While a myriad of programs exist to improve patient retention in the developing world, very little research has been undertaken to examine the effectiveness of case management to address patient lost to follow-up. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), the epicenter of HIV in the Asia Pacific Region, there is a dearth of research related to HIV services, despite over 10,000 people currently on ART. Through a comprehensive chart review of patient data from two Government operated ART clinics, this study examined the efficacy of a Case Management system in the Highlands of PNG. The Eastern Highlands have been implementing Case Management for ART patients since 2006 while Case Management is not being implemented the Western Highlands. Results indicate patients in the Eastern Highlands have a higher likelihood of survival at 12, 24, 36, and 48 months. It is important to note that the Case Management intervention occurred simultaneously amidst the challenge of decentralizing services to nine District sites. Case Management appears to be a promising intervention though it is inextricably linked to the limitations posed by a resource constrained health system. The complexity of HIV care, the need to reach patients closer to where they live, and the commitment by the Government of PNG to providing free anti retroviral treatment have merged to create a unique window of opportunity. A novel time has emerged for HIV-related resources to be used to strengthen primary health systems for the rural poor in PNG. This study provides an evidence-based foundation for launching an effort to reduce inequity while bringing voice to some of the world's most poor and most remote communities.Doctor of Public Healt

Gate tunable WSe2/SnSe2 backward diode with ultrahigh reverse rectification ratio

Backward diodes conduct more efficiently in the reverse bias than in the forward bias, providing superior high frequency response, temperature stability, radiation hardness, and 1/f noise performance than a conventional diode conducting in the forward direction. Here we demonstrate a van der Waals material based backward diode by exploiting the giant staggered band offsets of WSe2/SnSe2 vertical heterojunction. The diode exhibits an ultra-high reverse rectification ratio (R) of ~2.1x10^4 and the same is maintained up to an unusually large bias of 1.5 V - outperforming existing backward diode reports using conventional bulk semiconductors as well as one- and two-dimensional materials by more than an order of magnitude, while maintaining an impressive curvature coefficient ({\gamma}) of ~37 per V. The transport mechanism in the diode is shown to be efficiently tunable by external gate and drain bias, as well as by the thickness of the WSe2 layer and the type of metal contacts used. These results pave the way for practical electronic circuit applications using two-dimensional materials and their heterojunctions.Comment: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 201

Strong Single- and Two-Photon Luminescence Enhancement by Nonradiative Energy Transfer across Layered Heterostructure

The strong light-matter interaction in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) is promising for nanoscale optoelectronics with their direct band gap nature and the ultra-fast radiative decay of the strongly bound excitons these materials host. However, the impeded amount of light absorption imposed by the ultra-thin nature of the monolayers impairs their viability in photonic applications. Using a layered heterostructure of a monolayer TMD stacked on top of strongly absorbing, non-luminescent, multi-layer SnSe2, we show that both single-photon and two-photon luminescence from the TMD monolayer can be enhanced by a factor of 14 and 7.5, respectively. This is enabled through inter-layer dipole-dipole coupling induced non-radiative Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from SnSe2 underneath which acts as a scavenger of the light unabsorbed by the monolayer TMD. The design strategy exploits the near-resonance between the direct energy gap of SnSe2 and the excitonic gap of monolayer TMD, the smallest possible separation between donor and acceptor facilitated by van der Waals heterojunction, and the in-plane orientation of dipoles in these layered materials. The FRET driven uniform single- and twophoton luminescence enhancement over the entire junction area is advantageous over the local enhancement in quantum dot or plasmonic structure integrated 2D layers, and is promising for improving quantum efficiency in imaging, optoelectronic, and photonic applications

Performance of summer sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) hybrids under different nutrient management practices in coastal Odisha

The field experiment was conducted at Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, OUAT, Bhubaneswar during summer 2014 to find out appropriate hybrids and nutrient management practices for summer sunflower. Application of recommended dose of Fertiliser(RDF) i.e. 60-80- 60 kg N, P2O5-K2O ha -1 + ZnSO4 @ 25 kg ha -1 recorded the maximum capitulum diameter (15.60cm), seed yield (2.17 t ha -1 ), stover yield (4.88 t ha -1 ) and oil yield (0.91 t ha -1 ), while application of RDF + Boron@ 1 kg ha-1 recorded the highest number of total seed (970) and filled seed per capitulum (890) with the lowest unfilled seed (80) and sterility percentage (9.0%). The hybrid ‘Super-48’ recorded the highest seed and oil yield of 2.17 and 0.91 t ha -1 , respectively, at recommended dose of fertiliser + ZnSO4 @ 25 kg ha -1 . Experiment was conducted in evaluating the new hybrids in addition to evaluate the response of variety to different nutrient management practices