Study of serum calcium and serum magnesium levels in newly diagnosed hypertensives

Background: In normal vascular tissue physiology, calcium plays a crucial role. Calcium and magnesium metabolism have been implicated in the pathogenesis of primary hypertension. The present study aimed to assess serum calcium and serum magnesium levels and to study the association of the serum magnesium and serum calcium levels with hypertension in newly diagnosed hypertensive patients of Bikaner, Rajasthan. Methods: This cross- sectional study was carried out on 60 subjects aged between 18 years to 60 years in the department of physiology and in association with department of medicine and department of cardiology, S. P. Medical College and associated group of hospitals, Bikaner. Data was compiled and entered into Microsoft software statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. Data was summarised as frequencies, mean and standard deviations. For continuous data the means were compared between cases and controls using unpaired or independent t test; and for nominal data, chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests were applied to compare frequency distribution between cases and controls to see the statistical significance. Results: The present study shows statistically insignificant change in serum calcium and serum magnesium levels in newly detected hypertensive patients when compared to normotensive controls. Conclusions: In view of statistically insignificant change in serum calcium and magnesium levels in newly detected hypertensive patients in our study, further studies with a large sample size and more uniform population are required to find if any significant association exists between these cations and hypertension

IMPROVED GROWTH AND COLCHICINE CONCENTRATION IN GLORIOSA SUPERBA ON MYCORRHIZAL INOCULATION SUPPLEMENTED WITH PHOSPHORUS-FERTILIZER

Background: Gloriosa superba produces an array of alkaloids including colchicine, a compound of interest in the treatment of various diseases. The tuber of Gloriosa superba is a rich source of colchicine which has shown anti-gout, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor activity. However, this promising compound remains expensive and Gloriosa superba is such a good source in global scale. Increase in yield of naturally occurring colchicine is an important area of investigation. Materials and Methods: The effects of inoculation by four arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM), fungi, Glomus mossae, Glomus fasciculatum, Gigaspora margarita and Gigaspora gilmorei either alone or supplemented with P-fertilizer, on colchicine concentration in Gloriosa superba were studied. The concentration of colchicine was determined by high-performance thin layer chromatography. Results: The four fungi significantly increased concentration of colchicine in the herb. Although there was significant increase in concentration of colchicine in non-mycorrhizal P-fertilized plants as compared to control, the extent of the increase was less compared to mycorrhizal plants grown with or without P-fertilization. This suggests that the increase in colchicine concentration may not be entirely attributed to enhanced P-nutrition and improved growth. Among the four AM fungi Glomus mossae was found to be best. The total colchicine content of plant (mg / plant) was significantly high in plants inoculated with Glomus mossae and 25 mg kg-1phosphorus fertilizer (348.9 mg /plant) while the control contain least colchicine (177.87 mg / plant)

Molecular mechanics of tropocollagen-hydroxyapatite biomaterials

Hard biomaterials such as bone, dentin, and nacre show remarkable mechanical performance and serve as inspiration for development of next generation of composite materials with high strength and toughness. Such materials have primarily an organic phase (e.g. tropocollagen (TC) or chitin) and a mineral phase (e.g. hydroxyapatite (HAP) or aragonite) arranged in a staggered arrangement at nanoscopic length scales. Interfacial interactions between the organic phases and the mineral phases and structural effects arising due to the staggered and hierarchical arrangements are identified to be the two most important determinants for high mechanical performance of such biomaterials. Effects of these determinants in such biomaterials are further intertwined with factors such as loading configuration, chemical environment, mineral crystal shape, and residue sequences in polymer chains. Atomistic modeling is a desired approach to investigate such sub nanoscale issues as experimental techniques for investigations at such small scale are still in nascent stage. For this purpose, explicit three dimensional (3D) molecular dynamics (MD) and ab initio MD simulations of quasi-static mechanical deformations of idealized Tropocollagen-Hydroxyapatite (TC-HAP) biomaterials with distinct interfacial arrangements and different loading configurations are performed. Focus is on developing insights into the molecular level mechanics of TC-HAP biomaterials at fundamental lengthscale with emphasis on interface phenomenon. Idealized TC-HAP atomistic models are analyzed for their mechanical strength and fracture failure behavior from the viewpoint of interfacial interactions between TC and HAP and associated molecular mechanisms. In particular, study focuses on developing an understanding of factors such as role of interfacial structural arrangement, hierarchical structure design, influence of water, effect of changes in HAP crystal shape, and mutations in TC molecule on the mechanical strength of TC-HAP biomaterials. In conjunction, a continuum level tension-shear-chain (TSC) model is also implemented to analyze fracture resistance characteristics in TC-HAP nanocomposites. Results and analyses shed light on the failure mechanisms in TC-HAP type nanocomposite systems with a chemo-mechanical understanding of the interfacial interaction between TC and HAP. Analyses show that (1) failure of TC-HAP nanocomposites at nanoscale is predominantly peak strain dependent phenomenon, (2) presence of water in most cases strengthens the TC-HAP biomaterial by acting as a bridge via hydrogen bond mediated crosslinks, (3) TC-HAP nanostructures with plate shaped HAP crystals show higher toughness and stability as compared to TC-HAP nanostructures with needle shaped HAP crystals, and (4) mutations in TC are responsible for Osteogenesis Imperfecta bone disorder in an indirect manner, wherein mutations in TC affect the shape and distribution of mineral phase during growth and nucleation period of bone. Overall study emphasizes that interfacial structural arrangement between polymer phase and mineral phase in TC-HAP and similar nanocomposite biomaterials is an important factor in determining their mechanical strength and should be carefully studied and selected for development of high performance nanocomposite biomaterials. Findings and understandings from this research have significant impact on polymer-ceramic nanocomposite mechanics, biomaterial and biomimetic materials development, and bone fragility disorders related medical science development

Voltage Profile Improvement of Transmission Lines Using Static VAR Compensator

ABSTRACT: In the present scenario the power system are operated nearer to their stability limits due to economic and environmental reasons. Now days a stable and secure operation of a power system is therefore a very important and challenging issue. Efficient transmission of voltage and stable operation of the power system is very much essential. The stability has been given much attention by power system researchers and planners in recent years, and is being regarded as one of the major sources of power system problems and insecurity. To compensate these problems in transmission system svc is used. A static VAR compensator is chosen as a low cost solution to replace a conventional capacitor bank, thus allowing a continuous and flexible nodal voltage adjustment. Due to simplest structure, easy designing and low cost, PI controller is used in SVC as voltage regulator is used to regulate the voltage in most industries. In this paper shunt FACTS device-SVC is used in transmission line for improving the voltage profile and stability. MATLAB Simulink platform has been used in this study. KEYWORDS: shunt device, transmission line, MATLAB, SVC, voltage stability. I.INTRODUCTION Static VAR Compensators can be very effective in controlling voltage fluctuations at rapidly varying loads. Unfortunately, the price for such flexibility is high. Nevertheless, they are often the only cost-effective solution for many loads located in remote areas where the power system is weak As the disturbance are arises in the system due any abnormal condition of fault, it goes to transient oscillations. These unwanted oscillations can change the performance characterics of applications. Hence this is required to control and is done by the use the same shunt FACTS device Static VAR Compensator (SVC) designed with auxiliary controllers Hence there is a requirement of devices which can control the random fluctuations and the transient oscillations comes in the transmission line voltage during transmission. It is necessary that system has very less overshoot and very less settling time for retain of voltage in steady level. So for this from the last few years static VAR compensator plays an important role in voltage regulation in AC Transmission Systems. A Static VAR Compensators provides such system improvements and benefits by controlling Shunt reactive power sources, both capacitive and inductive, with fast power electronic switching devices. The shunt connected, fixed or mechanically switched reactors are applied to minimize th

A rapid qNMR protocol for the analysis of triclofos sodium in solution state pharmaceutical dosage formulations

95-101A quaitative 31P{1H} nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been used for quantification of triclofos sodium (TCFS) in syrup formulations. Its hydrolysis product 2,2,2-trichloroethanol (TCE) has been quantified by 1H NMR spectroscopy. Standard addition to syrup formulations is used for the quantification of these components. Dimethylsulfone (DMS) and hexamethyl benzene-1,3,5-triyltris(methylene)triphosphonate (HMBTP) have been used as internal standards for quantitative 1H NMR and 31P{1H} NMR respectively. All NMR experiments are performed on 400 MHz NMR spectrometer equipped with a room temperature broadband observe probe. The method is simple, rapid, and easy to implement. It also shows excellent accuracy (recoveries for TCFS 98.9-101.5% and TCE 98.6 to 99.9%), linearity (r2>0.99), range, precision, accuracy and robustness. Four commercially available formulations have been subjected to the developed method. The average concentration for TCFS is found to be 93±4 mg/mL in the commercially available drug samples. </span

Computational Analysis of Local Fractional LWR Model Occurring in a Fractal Vehicular Traffic Flow

In this paper, we implement computational methods, namely the local fractional natural homotopy analysis method (LFNHAM) and local fractional natural decomposition method (LFNDM), to examine the solution for the local fractional Lighthill–Whitham–Richards (LFLWR) model occurring in a fractal vehicular traffic flow. The LWR approach preferably models the traffic flow and represents the traffic patterns via the supposition of speed–density equilibrium relationship and continuity equation. This model is mostly preferred for modeling of traffic flow because of its simple approach and interpretive ability to examine the qualitative patterns of traffic flow. The methods applied here incorporate the local fractional natural transform (LFNT) and derive the solutions for the LFLWR model in a closed form. Two examples are provided to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the suggested methods. Furthermore, the numerical simulations have also been presented for each of the examples in the fractal domain. Additionally, the explored solutions for both examples have also been compared and are in good match with already existing solutions in literature. The methods applied in this work make the computational process easier as compared to other iterative methods and still provide precise solutions

Computational Analysis of Local Fractional LWR Model Occurring in a Fractal Vehicular Traffic Flow

In this paper, we implement computational methods, namely the local fractional natural homotopy analysis method (LFNHAM) and local fractional natural decomposition method (LFNDM), to examine the solution for the local fractional Lighthill&ndash;Whitham&ndash;Richards (LFLWR) model occurring in a fractal vehicular traffic flow. The LWR approach preferably models the traffic flow and represents the traffic patterns via the supposition of speed&ndash;density equilibrium relationship and continuity equation. This model is mostly preferred for modeling of traffic flow because of its simple approach and interpretive ability to examine the qualitative patterns of traffic flow. The methods applied here incorporate the local fractional natural transform (LFNT) and derive the solutions for the LFLWR model in a closed form. Two examples are provided to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the suggested methods. Furthermore, the numerical simulations have also been presented for each of the examples in the fractal domain. Additionally, the explored solutions for both examples have also been compared and are in good match with already existing solutions in literature. The methods applied in this work make the computational process easier as compared to other iterative methods and still provide precise solutions

Reliability and reproducibility of intraocular pressure measurements using the Goldmann applanation tonometry in glaucoma suspects

Aims: This study aimed to examine the intra-observer reliability of three ophthalmologists who measured intraocular pressure (IOP) using the Goldmann applanation tonometry (GAT) and the inter-observer variability among them during three visits of glaucoma suspects. Methods: This prospective observational study evaluated the reliability and consistency of the IOP measurements made by three trained observers using the GAT. The three observers recorded IOP readings for 100 patients during three visits; both the right and left eyes of the patients were examined during these visits. Each observer calculated inter-observer and intra-observer variation as intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). To determine the reliability, Cronbach's alpha was calculated. A P value of 0.9, and the overall ICC was also >0.9. The results showed excellent inter- and intra-observer reliability for the observers. Conclusion: The IOP values measured using the GAT were found to have significant intra- and inter-observer reliability. This demonstrates that ophthalmologists can perform valid and reliable IOP assessments. This also indicates the importance of careful and proper training of observers in measuring IOP using the GAT and the standardisation of criteria for early detection of glaucoma

Comparison of performance of digital hemoglobinometer over automated hematology analyzer for hemoglobin estimation and its user-friendliness among the pregnant women in selected district hospitals of Madhya Pradesh

Context: There is a need for a simple screening method for the detection of anemia that can be used by public health workers in the field. Aims: The aim of this study was to compare two methods for hemoglobin estimation, i.e., automated hematology analyzer and Digital Hemoglobinometer, and to find out the sensitivity and specificity of Digital Hemoglobinometer for the estimation of hemoglobin. Subjects and Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out for 6 months from April to September 2017 in a District Hospital of five High Priority Districts of Madhya Pradesh. Two hundred and sixty antenatal females per district were selected for the study. Results: The mean hemoglobin by autoanalyzer is 10.19, and that by Digital Hemoglobinometer device is 9.89. Overall, sensitivity of Digital Hemoglobinometer for hemoglobin estimation was calculated to be 89.4% and specificity was calculated to be 63.6%. Positive predictive value was found to be 82.6% and negative predictive value was 75.8% compared against AutoAnalyser (gold standard). Conclusions: As the Digital Hemoglobinometer device has high sensitivity and specificity and good diagnostic accuracy, it must be used at the community level in resource-poor setting for hemoglobin estimation. In primary health-care conditions, Digital Hemoglobinometer can significantly reduce misdiagnosis of anemia compared with clinical assessment alone