A rare incidence of averting ‘maternal near-miss’ in a case of spontaneous uterine rupture in shock

Uterine rupture is a rare but catastrophic obstetric emergency associated with significant feto-maternal morbidity and mortality. There are various risk factors and wide spectrum of clinical presentations have been identified; previous cesarean delivery being most common risk factor. Spontaneous rupture of unscarred uterus is infrequently encountered, but very dangerous for both mother and fetus as remotely suspected. Usually, spontaneous rupture of primigravida uterus is considered almost immune as it is rare but not unheard of; it may occur before or after onset of labour, at term or preterm and with or without fetal heart rate abnormality. The reported case was such a case of spontaneous unscarred uterine rupture with favourable outcome for both mother and baby

Assessment of performance and quality parameters for drying neem leaves in photovoltaic-thermal solar dryer

This research objective is to experimentally evaluate the performance of a photovoltaic-thermal indirect mode solar dryer for drying neem leaves under variable weather conditions of a year (winter and summer for sunny and cloudy days). The neem leaves moisture content findings indicated that the values decreased to 0.07 (d.b.) from 4.56 (d.b.) in 375 min for sunny winter, 465 min for cloudy winter, 315 min for sunny summer, and 405 min for cloudy summer weather conditions. The maximum drying parameters values were determined to be 6.15 kWh/kg for specific energy consumption, 0.23 kg/kWh for specific moisture extraction rate, and 18.54% for drying efficiency in cloudy winter weather conditions. The maximum thermal efficiency of 29.17% was achieved in sunny summer and the electrical efficiency was 10.14% in cloudy winter. The maximum heat transfer and mass transfer coefficients and Sherwood number were determined to be in sunny summer with ranges of 0.34-21.54 W/m2K, 0.35-22.18×10-3 m/s, and 0.50-30.47, respectively. The findings of quality parameters reveal that the drying product quality was not much affected by measuring total color change, antioxidant activity, total flavonoid content, and total phenolic content. In sunny summer, an ideal working environment was obtained after taking into account all performance characteristics

Sinteza i antimikrobno djelovanje derivata oksazolinona i imidazolinona

A few imidazolinones [1-aminoethyl/phenyl-2-methyl/phenyl-4-acetylidene/benzylidene-imidazolin-5(4H)-ones] were newly synthesized from respetive acetylidene/benzylidene oxazolinones. Schiff\u27s bases were synthesized by the reaction between imidazolinones and benzaldehyde. The antimicrobial screening of almost all compounds showed moderate to significant activities against B. subtilis ATCC 6633 and K. pneumoniae ATCC 25063. Compounds 10 [1-aminophenyl-2-phenyl-4-acetylidene-imidazolin-5(4H)-one] and 12 [1-aminophenyl-2-phenyl-4-benzylidene-imidazolin-5(4H)-one] showed even better activity than amphotericin B against C. albicans ATCC 29738.Sintetizirano je nekoliko novih derivata imidazolinona 1-aminoetil/fenil-2-metil/fenil-4-acetiliden/benziliden-imidazolin-5(4H)-ona iz odgovarajućeg acetiliden/benziliden oksazolinona. Reakcijom imidazolinona i benzaldehida pripravljene su Schiffove baze. Skoro svi spojevi posjeduju umjereno antimikrobno djelovanje na B. subtilis ATCC 6633 i K. pneumoniae ATCC 25063. Spojevi 10 1-aminofenil-2-fenil-4-acetiliden-imidazolin-5(4H)-on i 12 1-aminofenil-2-fenil-4-benziliden-imidazolin-5(4H)-on su čak aktivniji od amfotericina B na gljivicu C. albicans ATCC 29738

Studies on in vitro antiplasmodial activity of cleome rutidosperma

Malaria is a protozoal disease transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito, caused by minute parasitic protozoa of the genus Plasmodium, which infect human and insect hosts alternatively. It affects over 40% of the worldís population, with 120 million cases reported, and about 2 million deaths annually (1). The P. falciparum variety of the parasite accounts for 80% of cases and 90% of deaths caused by malaria. The declining efficacy of classical medication in relation to the rapid increase of parasite resistant strains, mainly of Plasmodium falciparum, as well as the greater resistance of vectors to insecticides, and the difficulty of creating efficient vaccines have led to an urgent need for new efficient antimalarial drugs (2, 3). Natural molecules may provide innovative strategies towards malarial control, hence active research groups are now working to develop new active compounds as an alternative to chloroquine, especially from artemisinin (4, 5), a plant-based antimalaria drug isolated from the Chinese plant Artemisia annua (6). Plants may well, therefore, prove to be the sources of new antimalarial in view of the success with the two important chemotherapeutic agents, quinine and artemisinin, both of which are derived from plants. Cleome rutidosperma (Capparidaceae) is a low-growing herb, up to 70 cm tall, found in waste grounds and grassy places with trifoliate leaves and small, violet-blue flowers, which turn pink as they age. The elongated capsules display the asymmetrical, dull black seeds. The plant is native to West Africa, although it has become naturalized in various parts of tropical America as well as Southeast Asia (7, 8). The diuretic, laxative, anthelmintic, antimicrobial, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities of Cleome rutidosperma were reported earlier by the authors (9-13). The plant is used as antimalarial by the traditional healers in Cameroon and mild antiplasmodial activity of chloroform/methanol (1:1) extract of leaves of Cleome rutidosperma against chloroquine-sensitive (F32) laboratory strain of P. falciparum was reported earlier in Cameroon (14). The present study investigates the in vitro antiplasmodial activity of ethanolic extract and its fractions of aerial parts of Cleome rutidosperma against the chloroquine sensitive (CQS) D10 strain of the parasite, as well as their toxicity against a mammalian cell lines

Review of recent research on photovoltaic thermal solar collectors

Photovoltaic (PV) technology can be categorized as a mature technology but its performance with its elevating temperature has a negative effect and opens a new area of research which led to the introduction of photovoltaic thermal collector (PVTC) systems. PVTC systems integrate PV modules and solar thermal collectors in a single unit to derive energies from uninterruptible solar sources. This review article is limited to the design and development of the heat exchangers used in typical air and water-based PVTC system. Heat exchangers are used to improve the heat transfer from the back surface of the PV module, thereby improving its overall efficiency. The review shows that for air-based PVTC, the electrical efficiency with various types of heat exchangers lies in the range of 4-24%, whereas for water-based PVTC is 5.1-15.8%. The maximum thermal efficiency achieved for the water-based system is observed to be 72% against the 87% for the air-based system indicating that a significant approach has been made in the air-based system with the novel concept of the heat exchangers as compared to the water-based system. At the end of the paper, some future recommendations are also commented on to make the PVTC system more viable