A comparative study on the production of ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass by chemical and biological method

Ethanol derived from non-edible biomass is renewable and a clean source of energy. It is independent of the food industry and it is economically feasible. The first generation biofuel or bioethanol is still not a very convenient source of energy as it prominently depends on the availability of grains. The main objective of this work is to develop an industrious efficient process to produce ethanol from lignocellulosic biomasses like wood and leaf in a lab scale. Two processes were compared. The first process involved an alkaline pre-treatment of the powdered biomass followed by dilute acid hydrolysis. The second process involved an alkaline treatment followed by direct hydrolysis of the biomass by use of a fungal species obtained from rotting wood. Following hydrolysis, fermentation was performed using _Saccharomyces cerevisiae_ and ethanol produced was measured. The process methodologies performed here are liable to be scaled up easily. The final study determines factors such as temperature, strength of the reagents and retention time to maximize ethanol production

Road Tracking from High resolution IRS And IKONOS Images Using Unscented Kalman Filtering

A typical way to update map is to compare recent satellite images with existing map data, detect new roads and add them as cartographic entities to the road layer. At present image processing and pattern recognition are not robust enough to automate the image interpretation system feasible. For this reason we have to develop an image interpretation system that rely on human guidance. More importantly road maps require final checking by a human due to the legal implementations of error. Our proposed technique is applied to IRS and IKONOS images using Unscented Kalman Filter(UKF) . UKF is used for tracing the median axis of the single road segment. The Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is probably the most widely used estimation algorithm for road tracking. However, more than 35 years of experience in the estimation community has shown that is difficult to implement and is difficult to tune. To overcome this limitation,UKF is introduced in road tracking which is more accurate, easier to implement, and uses the same order of calculations as linearization. The principles and algorithm of EKF and UKF were also discussed. The core of our system is based on profile matching.UKF traces the roadbeyond obstacles and tries to find the continuation of the road finding all road branches initializing at the road junction.The completeness and correctness of road tracking from the IRS and IKONOS images were also compared

Study of Gain Switching in Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser under Different Electrical Pulse Inputs

Vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) is a strong candidate for short pulse generation among the other semiconductor lasers in the era of laser technology. A 1550 nm, low power VCSEL is excited under different current shapes and the chief laser parameters are found out. The concept of gain switching under various current profiles are utilized effectively to bring out maximum laser power with minimum pulse width, which are the essential factors for long haul high speed optical data transmission. For a haversine electrical current input with 3.7 Ith amplitude, a laser peak power of 2.2 mW at 57 ps pulse width is obtained. In the case of trapezoidal pulse, 67 ps pulse width is obtained for 2.6 Ith current amplitude. It is also observed that square pulse of amplitude 2 Ith produces short optical pulse of 0.887 mW peak power and 89 ps width which shows the best performance when compared to other forms of pulses discussed in this work at the same input condition

Evaluation of International Contemporary Operative Outcomes and Management Trends Associated With Esophagectomy:A 4-Year Study of >6000 Patients Using ECCG Definitions and the Online Esodata Database

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to verify the utility of international online datasets to benchmark and monitor treatment and outcomes in major oncologic procedures. BACKGROUND: The Esophageal Complication Consensus Group (ECCG) has standardized the reporting of complications after esophagectomy within the web-based Esodata.org database. This study will utilize the Esodata dataset to update contemporary outcomes and to monitor trends in practice in an era of rapid technical change. METHODS: This observational study, based on a prospectively developed specific database, updates esophagectomy outcomes collected between 2015 and 2018. Evolution in patient and operative demographics, treatment, complications, and quality outcome measures were compared between patients undergoing surgery in 2015 to 2016 and 2017 to 2018. RESULTS: Between 2015 and 2018, 6022 esophagectomies from 39 centers were entered into Esodata. Most patients were male (78.3%) with median age 63. Patients having minimally invasive esophagectomy constituted 3177 (52.8%), a chest anastomosis 3838 (63.7%), neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy 2834 (48.7%), and R0 resections 5441 (93.5%). For quality measures, 30- and 90-day mortality was 2.0% and 4.5%, readmissions 9.7%, transfusions 12%, escalation in care 22.1%, and discharge home 89.4%. Trends in quality measures between 2015 and 2016 (2407 patients) and 2017 and 2018 (3318 patients) demonstrated significant (P &lt; 0.05) improvements in readmissions 11.1% to 8.5%, blood transfusions 14.3% to 10.2%, and escalation in care from 24.5% to 20% A significantly (P &lt; 0.05) reduced incidence in pneumonia (15.3%-12.8%) and renal failure (1.0%-0.4%) was observed. Anastomotic leak rates increased from 11.7% to 13.1%, whereas leaks requiring surgery decreased 3.3% and 3.0%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The Esodata database provides a valuable resource for assessing contemporary international outcomes. This study highlights an increased application of minimally invasive approaches, a high percentage of complications, improvements in pneumonia and key quality metrics, but with anastomotic leak rates still &gt;10%.</p

Platelet Alloantibody Specificities in Multiply Transfused Patients.

Transfusion plays an important role in the management of patients with hematological malignancies and disorders. Patients during the induction chemotherapy may need multiple transfusion of platelets and red cells and may develop refractoriness; platelet count increment deteriorate even after adequate dose of platelets are transfused. Although several studies reported non-immunological factors like fever, Splenomegaly, septicemia and severe bleeding are responsible for refractoriness in some patients, no specific reasons can be found. This raises the suspicion of platelet antibodies for the cause of refractoriness. Till now in many studies, the presence of HLA and platelet specific antibodies were found to be between 10%-60%in the patients who were treated with multiple transfusions. Our results concluded that multiple random donor blood and platelet transfusion are able to induce antibodies against HLA class 1 antigens and epitopes on GP iib/iiia. There was no relationship between the number of units transfused and the antibodies formation. Women with single pregnancy history were identified as high responder group for alloimmunization. Our results show AML are frequently immunized than ALL patients. Keeping in view the alloimmunization, leukoreduced irradiated single donor platelets and blood components should be transfused for the treatment of hematological and oncological patients. Till now, non-leukoreduced components are used in most of the centers in India due to cost of leukoreduction. Testing for the presence of platelet antibodies and transfusion of compatible platelets shall be important mode of management and prevention of platelet refractoriness in India

Health insurance mediation of the Mexican American non-Hispanic white disparity on early breast cancer diagnosis

We examined health insurance mediation of the Mexican American (MA) non-Hispanic white (NHW) disparity on early breast cancer diagnosis. Based on social capital and barrio advantage theories, we hypothesized a 3-way ethnicity by poverty by health insurance interaction, that is, that 2-way poverty by health insurance interaction effects would differ between ethnic groups. We secondarily analyzed registry data for 303 MA and 3,611 NHW women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1996 and 2000 who were originally followed until 2011. Predictors of early, node negative (NN) disease at diagnosis were analyzed. Socioeconomic data were obtained from the 2000 census to categorize neighborhood poverty: high (30% or more of the census tract households were poor), middle (5% to 29% poor) and low (less than 5% poor). Barrios were neighborhoods where 50% or more of the residents were MA. Primary health insurers were Medicaid, Medicare, private or none. MA women were 13% less likely to be diagnosed early with NN disease (RR = 0.87), but this MA-NHW disparity was completely mediated by the main and interacting effects of health insurance. Advantages of health insurance were largest in low poverty neighborhoods among NHW women (RR = 1.20) while among MA women they were, paradoxically, largest in high poverty, MA barrios (RR = 1.45). Advantages of being privately insured were observed for all. Medicare seemed additionally instrumental for NHW women and Medicaid for MA women. These findings are consistent with the theory that more facilitative social and economic capital is available to MA women in barrios and to NHW women in more affluent neighborhoods. It is there that each respective group of women is probably best able to absorb the indirect and direct, but uncovered, costs of breast cancer screening and diagnosis

The supply of physicians and care for breast cancer in Ontario and California, 1998 to 2006

INTRODUCTION: We examined the differential effects of the supply of physicians on care for breast cancer in Ontario and California. We then used criteria for optimum care for breast cancer to estimate the regional needs for the supply of physicians. METHODS: Ontario and California registries provided 951 and 984 instances of breast cancer diagnosed between 1998 and 2000 and followed until 2006. These cohorts were joined with the supply of county-level primary care physicians (PCPs) and specialists in cancer care and compared on care for breast cancer. RESULTS: Significant protective PCP thresholds (7.75 to = 8.25 PCPs per 10 000 inhabitants) were observed for breast cancer diagnosis (odds ratio [OR] 1.62), receipt of adjuvant radiotherapy (OR 1.64) and 5-year survival (OR 1.87) in Ontario, but not in California. The number of physicians seemed adequate to optimize care for breast cancer across diverse places in California and in most Ontario locations. However, there was an estimated need for 550 more PCPs and 200 more obstetrician-gynecologists in Ontario\u27s rural and small urban areas. We estimated gross physician surpluses for Ontario\u27s 2 largest cities. CONCLUSION: Policies are needed to functionally redistribute primary care and specialist physicians. Merely increasing the supply of physicians is unlikely to positively affect the health of Ontarians

Exponentially Increasing Incidences of Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma in Europe Correlate with Low Personal Annual UV Doses and Suggests 2 Major Risk Factors

For several decades the incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) steadily increased in fair-skinned, indoor-working people around the world. Scientists think poor tanning ability resulting in sunburns initiate CMM, but they do not understand why the incidence continues to increase despite the increased use of sunscreens and formulations offering more protection. This paradox, along with lower incidences of CMM in outdoor workers, although they have significantly higher annual UV doses than indoor workers have, perplexes scientists. We found a temporal exponential increase in the CMM incidence indicating second-order reaction kinetics revealing the existence of 2 major risk factors. From epidemiology studies, we know one major risk factor for getting CMM is poor tanning ability and we now propose the other major risk factor may be the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) because clinicians find β HPVs in over half the biopsies. Moreover, we uncovered yet another paradox; the increasing CMM incidences significantly correlate with decreasing personal annual UV dose, a proxy for low vitamin D3 levels. We also discovered the incidence of CMM significantly increased with decreasing personal annual UV dose from 1960, when it was almost insignificant, to 2000. UV and other DNA-damaging agents can activate viruses, and UV-induced cytokines can hide HPV from immune surveillance, which may explain why CMM also occurs in anatomical locations where the sun does not shine. Thus, we propose the 2 major risk factors for getting CMM are intermittent UV exposures that result in low cutaneous levels of vitamin D3 and possibly viral infection