Stabilised Control of Converter Interfaced DERs for Reliable Operation of Microgrid and Microgrid Clusters

This thesis aims to achieve a stabilised control of converter interfaced DER for the reliable and resilient operation of microgrid and microgrid clusters. The suitability of voltage and current control for VSCs is evaluated and corrective measures are proposed to stabilise converter operation. Furthermore, the accurate power demand distribution in islanded MGs and interconnected MGs are ensured by advanced control strategies. The proposal presented in the thesis is verified both through simulation and experimental work

Uterine Pseudoaneurysm: A rare cause of delayed postpartum haemorrhage managed with uterine artery embolisation

MEDICAL IMAG

Whom to blame for brain health and appetite slump in toddlers? A narrative review

Abstract Food preference in children depends on the interplay between genetic and environmental factors. Exposure to flavors during prenatal and postnatal period through amniotic fluid, breast milk, and weaning foods have been identified as possible influences on food preference and acceptance in children. Therefore, maternal nutrition has a strong influence on the child’s food preference early in life. Aim: The authors carried out a narrative review to understand the contribution of maternal nutrition on the food preferences in children in later life. Methods: The authors retrieved the articles from SCOPUS, Medline, Science Direct, CINAHL, EBSCO, and PubMed central databases. The key words including food preferences, food choice, and acceptance of food, pregnant women, toddlers, and food culture were used to identify the appropriate articles. The authors included in the review, full-text articles, published in English language between 1995 and 2018. In total, six articles, which met the inclusion criteria, were included in the final review. Results: The results revealed that there is a very strong connection between the exposure to flavors during prenatal and postnatal period and food preference and acceptance in children in later life. The olfactory and gustatory exposures to flavors during prenatal period through maternal diet, and during postnatal period through breast milk and weaning foods determines the food preferences in childhood. Conclusion: We conclude that maternal nutrition has a strong influence on the child’s food preference early in the life, therefore effective strategies should be designed to increase healthy feeding choices during the prenatal and postnatal periods

Molecular Modeling and Docking Studies of Neu5Ac2en analogues against Cholera toxin

Abstract Neu5Ac2en (2-deoxy-2, 3-didehydro-N-acetylneuraminic acid

A descriptive pilot study of mitochondrial mutations & clinical phenotype in fibromyalgia syndrome

Background & objectives: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is one of the most common chronic pain conditions of unknown aetiology. Mitochondrial dysfunction has been reported in FMS with some studies reporting the presence of mitochondrial mutation namely A3243G, which also causes mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes. This pilot study was conducted to assess this mutation and also detect large deletions in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in patients with FMS. Methods: Thirty female patients with FMS participated and 30 matched controls were included. Genomic DNA was subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using specific primers followed by restriction digestion with Apa I enzyme to detect the specific A3243G mtDNA mutation. Long-range PCR was done in two sets to detect the large deletions in the mtDNA. Biochemical parameters including thyroid-stimulating hormone and vitamin D levels were also looked at. Results: None of the patients were found to carry the common mutation or large deletions. Low vitamin D level was a common finding. Hypothyroidism was found in a few patients. Interpretation & conclusions: Although the common mutation or large mtDNA deletions were not detected in blood mtDNA in the FMS patients, mutations in the muscle and sequence variation in mtDNA remained a possibility. Future studies in both blood and muscle tissue including mtDNA sequencing are warranted in such patients to determine if a subset of FMS patients have mitochondrial myopathy

Educational intervention does not reduce non-invasive urine contamination rates in children presenting to the emergency department

Aim: Urinary tract infection is common in children with high contamination rates with non‐invasive urine sampling (NIU). Our aims were to evaluate an educational tool for decreasing contamination rates and find factors associated with contamination. Methods: This was a prospective cohort interventional study with a review of microbiology data and medical records of all NIU specimens collected at a large tertiary children's emergency department (ED) over a 1‐year period. The intervention was the provision of a urine collection kit and educational pamphlet and education of staff. NIU contamination was calculated for 6 months pre‐intervention and 6 months post‐intervention. The association of factors with NIU contamination was evaluated for all cohorts (age, gender, presence of diarrhoea, season, time of day, time to incubation and activity of the ED). Results: A total of 2104 NIU samples were included (median age 3 years, 52% females). There was no difference between periods in contamination rates (29.2% and 31.2%, respectively, P = 0.322). Collectively, high monthly activity of the department, age and female gender were associated with contamination. The highest contamination rates were among children aged 0–3 months and 12 years and older (38.1 and 48.9%, respectively). Conclusions: The urine collection kit and educational tool did not decrease NIU contamination rates in our ED. Contamination rates were correlated with the monthly activity of our department and female gender and were noticeably high among infants and adolescents. Given the high prevalence of urinary tract infection among these age groups, measures should be taken to reassess indications and methods for urine collection

Biomass-derived Carbon dots and their coated surface as a potential antimicrobial agent

Carbon dots (CDs) with an average diameter of 6.3 nm were synthesized from the medicinal seed extract of Syzygium cumini L. using one-pot hydrothermal synthesis. The prepared CDs exhibited excitation-dependent emission characteristics with photoluminescence (PL) emission maxima at an excitation of 340 nm. The CDs at 500 µg/mL displayed antimicrobial activities against four common pathogens. Both Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis were completely eradicated by CDs within 12 h, compared to 24 h for Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia. The release of various oxygen species (ROS) was postulated to play a critical role in bacterial eradication. The CDs decorated on cotton fabric by ultrasonication also displayed good antibacterial activities against the above bacteria. The finding opens a plausible use of CDs in biomedical textiles with potent antimicrobial properties against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.RP/CPS/2022/007; Tomas Bata University in Zlin, TBU: IGA/CPS/2022/002Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic Program-DKRVO [RP/CPS/2022/007]; Internal Grant Agency of Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Czech Republic [IGA/CPS/2022/002

Educational intervention does not reduce non‐invasive urine contamination rates in children presenting to the emergency department

Aim: Urinary tract infection is common in children with high contamination rates with non‐invasive urine sampling (NIU). Our aims were to evaluate an educational tool for decreasing contamination rates and find factors associated with contamination. Methods: This was a prospective cohort interventional study with a review of microbiology data and medical records of all NIU specimens collected at a large tertiary children's emergency department (ED) over a 1‐year period. The intervention was the provision of a urine collection kit and educational pamphlet and education of staff. NIU contamination was calculated for 6 months pre‐intervention and 6 months post‐intervention. The association of factors with NIU contamination was evaluated for all cohorts (age, gender, presence of diarrhoea, season, time of day, time to incubation and activity of the ED). Results: A total of 2104 NIU samples were included (median age 3 years, 52% females). There was no difference between periods in contamination rates (29.2% and 31.2%, respectively, P = 0.322). Collectively, high monthly activity of the department, age and female gender were associated with contamination. The highest contamination rates were among children aged 0–3 months and 12 years and older (38.1 and 48.9%, respectively). Conclusions: The urine collection kit and educational tool did not decrease NIU contamination rates in our ED. Contamination rates were correlated with the monthly activity of our department and female gender and were noticeably high among infants and adolescents. Given the high prevalence of urinary tract infection among these age groups, measures should be taken to reassess indications and methods for urine collection

Improved control strategy for accurate load power sharing in an autonomous microgrid

This study proposes a decentralised droop control method for guaranteeing precise load sharing among distributed resources in an islanded microgrid. Distributed resources are usually fed through power electronic converters and the switching harmonics produced by them are eliminated by third-order output LCL filters. Output impedance is considered as a major factor for finding exact power-angle droop coefficient in droop design - neglecting this factor can affect the load sharing accuracy. Even though an acceptable active power sharing can be achieved with higher droop gains, increased droop gain may adversely affect the microgrid stability. Here, a modified angle droop control is proposed such that the dependence on the output inductance on the real power sharing is removed. Thus, the lower droop coefficients are sufficient for droop sharing and the system stability is not endangered. It has been assumed that the microgrid is converter-dominated, where a proportionalresonant controller has been utilised for converter switching control. This controller has an outer voltage loop and an inner current loop. A harmonic term has been added to the voltage loop to facilitate more accurate reactive power sharing. Simulation studies are conducted using PSCAD/EMTDC to validate the efficacy of the proposed controller