Structural characterization and hardness of carbon nanotube/alumina composites prepared by tri-sec-butoxide

The so-gel approach was used in the production of an alumina matrix composite that had carbon nanotube reinforcement. On alumina powders, the effects of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) of varying concentrations—1%, 3%, 5%, 7%, and 9% weight were investigated. The findings indicate that reinforcing the material with CNTs at a weight of 1% was responsible for the improvement in wear resistance and hardness. The addition of carbon nanotubes to an alumina matrix composite led to an improvement in the material's hardness. This was caused by an enhanced load distribution brought about by the nanotubes' uniform distribution. A homogenous distribution of CNTs inside the Al2O3 matrix and a robust interfacial contact between CNTs and Al2O3 are necessary conditions for the fabrication of composites with better wear characteristics

Prescribing pattern in outpatient department of neurosurgery in a tertiary care hospital of North India

Background: The neurosurgical disorders are amongst the leading cause of global mortality and morbidity. Though surgical intervention is thought to be the main management protocol in the neurosurgical setup but drugs are being equally used especially in the outpatient setting. The present study was carried out in view of the sparse data available on prescribing pattern in neurosurgery.Methods: The present study was conducted by the department of pharmacology in outpatient department of neurosurgery in a tertiary care centre to look into the prescription pattern among these patients.Results: In 268 patients analyzed, mean age was 43.02±15.93 years and 52.23% were females. Majority of our participants (44%) were found to be of young to middle age group (21-40 years). The diagnosis among the study population was spread over large number of diseases. Lumbar Disc Prolapse (LDP) was found to be the leading cause of neurosurgical morbidity, amounting to 32%. As far as the prescription of various drugs in the outpatient of neurosurgery is concerned, Analgesics were the most common drugs prescribed constituting about 48% of the total drugs prescribed followed by GABA analogues and multivitamins which equally formed 41% of the total prescribed drugs.Conclusions: Although the prescription pattern studies among the outpatient neurosurgery patients are very scant, the analysis of prescription studies will be helpful to encourage the rational drug prescribing pattern

Optimization of Extrusion Process for Development of Nutritious Snacks using Rice and Chickpea Flour

430-436A systematic study was conducted to develop nutritionally superior extruded snacks from blend of high amylose rice and chickpea flour using a twin-screw extruder. The effect of barrel temperature 160°C–200°C, moisture content of feed 11%−15%, feed composition 95% rice : 5% chickpea to 35% rice : 65% chickpea and screw speed - 160 to 280 rpm on dependent variables i.e. specific mechanical energy (SME), water solubility and water absorption indices (WAI and WSI), bulk density (BD), expansion ratio (ER), breaking strength (BS), L*, a*, b* and overall acceptability was investigated by Central composite rotatable design (CCRD). The optimized condition obtained by numeric optimization were barrel temperature (186°C), feed moisture (12%), feed proportion (74% rice: 26% chickpea) and screw speed of 222 rpm

End stage renal disease: Seroprevalence of hepatitises B and C along with associated aetiology and risk factors in children

Background: End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) normally requires dialysis or transplantation for survival. Since ESRD patients are on long term dialysis, infections such as Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV) are commonly reported.Methods: This was a retrospective study carried out at a government hospital during a 12-month period from January 2013 to December 2013. The data was collected using a predesigned pro forma to note the etiology, gender, age, and HBsAg and anti-HCV test result of each patient.Results: 444 children suffering from ESRD were included in our analysis. The mean age of sample was 12.7 ± 4.1 years. Sixty percent (n = 262) of the children were boys. The most common etiology of ESRD was kidney stones (n = 44, 29.3%). HBV was positive in 11 children (2.5%) while HCV was positive in 13 (2.9%).Conclusion: This study asserts the need for carrying out further work to confirm these findings and expand our recommendations. It is imperative to reliably determine the burden of HBV and HCV disease and to determine the aetiology of their spread especially in children with ESRD

Reducing the burden of orthodontic care for children with clefts: evaluating the effectiveness of pre-alveolar bone graft orthodontics in unilateral non-syndromic cleft patients (PABO study)— A study protocol for a multicentric randomised controlled trial

From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2021-05-12, registration 2021-08-02, accepted 2021-08-02, pub-electronic 2021-08-28, online 2021-08-28, collection 2021-12Publication status: PublishedFunder: Science and Engineering Board, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India; Grant(s): CRG/2019/005689Abstract: Background: An alveolar cleft commonly affects 75% of cleft lip and palate patients. While it is common practice to provide a course of orthodontic treatment before alveolar bone grafting, there are no previous high-quality studies reporting on the benefits of this type of treatment. Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of pre-alveolar bone graft orthodontics for unilateral non-syndromic cleft palate patients. Method: The PABO trial is a multicentric, parallel, two-arm, single-blinded randomised controlled trial. The inclusion criteria include unilateral cleft alveolus patients requiring bone graft and between the age group of 8 and 13 years with erupted upper central incisors. Participants will be recruited at three centres across India. Participants will be randomised to orthodontic treatment or no orthodontic treatment group. Both groups of participants will have alveolar bone graft surgery and will be followed up for 6 months after surgery. The primary outcome will be the success of the alveolar bone graft measured by anterior oblique radiograph and secondary outcomes include quality of life, cost analysis and quality of the dento-occlusal outcome. Data analysis will be carried out by an independent statistician at the end of the study. Discussion: This study is the first to evaluate the effect of orthodontics on alveolar bone graft success. The increased burden of care for these patients with multiple treatments required from multiple specialists from birth to adult life highlights the need for reducing unnecessary treatment provision. Trial Registration: Clinical Trials Registry – India, CTRI/2020/10/028756. Trial prospectively registered on 29 October 2020.

Electrolyte Imbalance Pattern in Hospitalized Unconscious Patients

Objective: To determine the pattern of electrolyte imbalance and associated etiological factors among the unconscious patients hospitalized at Pak Emirates Military Hospital. Study Design: Cross-sectional study Place and Duration of Study: Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan from Sep 2019 to Feb 2020 Methodology: A total of 240 cases were included in this study in liaison with other departments where the admitted patients became unconscious. Patients with a Glasgow coma scale score <10 were included in the study. Serum electrolytes, including Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium and Chloride, were measured in the study participants. Results: Mean age of study participants was 49.10±7.55 years. One hundred and sixty-two (67.5%) patients were from Medicine -Allied Wards while 78(32.5%) patients were from Surgical-Allied Wards. Thirty-eight patients were from the Critical Care Unit. Mean serum sodium was 139.10±11.52 meq/L, while potassium was 4.60±1.06 meq/L. Mean chloride was 809.4±53.55 meq/L, and Magnesium was 1.40±1.05) meq/L. Our analysis revealed that advanced age, underlying medical illness and duration of hospitalization were strongly linked with electrolyte imbalance among the unconscious patients. Conclusion: Electrolyte imbalance emerged as a common finding in the unconscious patients hospitalized in our tertiary care unit. Patients with advancing age, medical illnesses and long hospitalization should be screened for electrolyte wasting a priority to prevent them from going unconscious

The relationship between transformational leadership and job performance: an empirical investigation

The main objective of the present paper is to assess the relationship between transformational leadership and job performance empirically.The study was conducted in the banking sector of Pakistan focusing on six large banks.A total number of 308 responses were collected through survey questionnaire from the bank managers.The data was then coded into SPSS for early stage analysis such as data screening.This was followed through applying SmartPLS to analyze the data and the results have been presented in its standard reporting style.The findings revealed a positive relationship between transformational leadership and job performance in banking sector of Pakistan supporting the hypothesized relationship.Finally, the paper has presented a way forward for future research

Somatic Cell Cycle Regulation By Histone H3 Modifications: Action of OGT and Kinases

Abstract.-Histone H3 is amongst the most evolutionarily conserved proteins, and is located along with histone 2A, 2B and 4 in the core of the nucleosome. The N-terminal tails of the histone protrude the chromatin structure and become accessible to various enzymes for post translational modifications (PTMs). Phosphorylation of H3 has been found to have an impact on progression of the cell cycle, especially during mitosis. Another equally abundant PTM is the glycosylation at serine/threonine by O-GlcNAc (O-linked glycosylation) that occurs on the same or neighboring Ser or Thr residues, which also are accessible to kinases (Yin Yang sites). O-GlcNAc is added by O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT), and is found exclusively in the nucleus or cytoplasm of the cell. By using computational methods like Netphos 2.0 and Yinoyang 1.2 we found that OGT, Aurora B kinase and OGT, Death-associated protein (DAP)-like kinase, work together in a Yin Yang way, and thereby control specific checkpoints during mitosis. Bioinformatics tool, thus, are very helpful to elucidate the function of the protein by predicting the PTMs in proteins

The Pakistan risk of myocardial infarction study: A resource for the study of genetic, lifestyle and other determinants of myocardial infarction in south Asia

The burden of coronary heart disease (CHD) is increasing at a greater rate in South Asia than in any other region globally, but there is little direct evidence about its determinants. The Pakistan Risk of Myocardial Infarction Study (PROMIS) is an epidemiological resource to enable reliable study of genetic, lifestyle and other determinants of CHD in South Asia. By March 2009, PROMIS had recruited over 5,000 cases of first-ever confirmed acute myocardial infarction (MI) and over 5,000 matched controls aged 30-80 years. For each participant, information has been recorded on demographic factors, lifestyle, medical and family history, anthropometry, and a 12-lead electrocardiogram. A range of biological samples has been collected and stored, including DNA, plasma, serum and whole blood. During its next stage, the study aims to expand recruitment to achieve a total of about 20,000 cases and about 20,000 controls, and, in subsets of participants, to enrich the resource by collection of monocytes, establishment of lymphoblastoid cell lines, and by resurveying participants. Measurements in progress include profiling of candidate biochemical factors, assay of 45,000 variants in 2,100 candidate genes, and a genomewide association scan of over 650,000 genetic markers. We have established a large epidemiological resource for CHD in South Asia. In parallel with its further expansion and enrichment, the PROMIS resource will be systematically harvested to help identify and evaluate genetic and other determinants of MI in South Asia. Findings from this study should advance scientific understanding and inform regionally appropriate disease prevention and control strategies

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care