Determination of Filming and Alkalizing Amines Using LC-MS and the Influence of These Amines on Ion Exchange Resin Properties

In steam turbine power plants, filming amines are injected into the steam header to coat and protect pipe surfaces against corrosion. Alkalizing amines are added to the boiler feedwater to control pH of the condensate in order to prevent corrosion. Higher concentrations of these amines in the condensate can corrode copper alloys. Moreover, properties and performance of polishing ion exchange resins used to purify the process water can be affected by the use of filming and alkalizing amines. Hence, it is important to monitor and maintain the amine concentration in the condensate. Understanding the effect of the use of these amines on ion exchange resin properties is also very crucial.In this work, a simple method has been developed for determination of filming and alkalizing amines using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Four filming and four alkalizing amines were successfully analyzed. Cyclohexylamine uptake capacity of DOWEX 650C was also determined using the method. To investigate the effect of exposure, one anion and three cation exchange resins were treated with ten different amines including two commercial filming amines. Resin properties were determined for the standard, amine exposed and regenerated forms.All the resins were fouled due to amine exposure; higher adsorptions were observed by the cation exchange resins compared to the anion exchange resin. A decrease in exchange capacities were found and regeneration did not achieve complete recovery of the ion exchange resin properties. Adsorption of amines and their presence after regeneration were confirmed by LC-MS and fluorometric analysis.Salt splitting kinetic experiments were also performed. At the end of this research, nanometric aggregates of molybdenum (VI) oxide and tungsten (VI) oxide were prepared using ion exchange resins that can be used for environmental and catalytic applications.Chemistr

Assessing the influence of human settlements on the plant diversity in wetlands of Phobji and Gangtey, Bhutan

Plant diversity in the wetlands of Phobji and Gangtey represents an important aspect of the overall wetland ecosystem. However, over the years, the increasing trend in population has initiated the building of many infrastructures and accommodations which lie at close proximity to the core wetland area. The plant diversity in human settled area and core undisturbed area was studied, with an objective to assess the influence of human settlement on the plant diversity. A belt transect method was used for the purpose of vegetation survey and Shannon Wiener diversity was calculated using the relative dominance. Plants were analyzed for their diversity, richness, dominance and invasive nature. Additionally, soil and water parameters were also tested to see the current situation of the pH and nutrient levels. A total of 136 species belonging to 39 families was identified in both the areas. The overall diversity index and species richness was found to be higher in the undisturbed areas. Soil analysis did not show much of a difference in physical and chemical parameters except for a slight difference in potassium content. Similarly, water parameters did not show much difference but only showed variation in calcium content. The findings of the study indicated towards the increasing influence of human settlement in the wetland

Special Issue Editors Note

This special issue consists of some selective papers submitted to the 5th International Conference on Natural Science and Technology (ICNST’18). The papers were accepted by our peer review process. ICNST is organized by Science and Math Program of Asian University for Women (AUW) each year since 2014. The main aim of the conference is to bring forward the latest research advances in natural sciences and technology by the scientific and research communities, and provide a forum for the exchange of latest technical information, the dissemination of the high-quality research results on the issues, the presentation of the new developments in these areas, and the debate and shaping of future directions. The conference has maintained its uniqueness and yet evolved gradually to add extra dimension like the session on “Women in Science”, increased overall number of sessions and has gone international for the first time this year.  It is a multi-disciplinary conference on the topics of Biosciences and Bioinformatics, Environmental Sciences, Information and communication technologies, and Public Health.   Papers on related topics were solicited from all relevant disciplinary areas, ranging from current problems, projections, new concepts, modeling, experiments and measurements, to simulations. The ICNST’18 received extraordinary international attention over the world. It included plenary sessions, keynote lectures, and several specialized sessions on different topics including “women in science”. The Women in Science session has been an integral part of the ICNST conference since 2014. The purpose of arranging this session is to create a platform for women researchers and scientists from STEM to share their journey and viewpoints on the contributions made by women in this field.   As we are all aware, the efforts required in organizing and holding this kind of Conference are extensive. We would like to take this opportunity to convey our heartfelt appreciation to some key individuals, all the members of the Organizing Committee, especially the students, who are the driving force behind this conference. We would also like to thank all the sponsors, attendees, presenters, reviewers, chairs of session and keynote & invited speakers from Bangladesh and abroad for their contributions in making this conference a success

Diagnostic delay in clinical practice: A case report of Coeliac disease

Once considered a gastrointestinal disease of childhood affecting mainly whites, Coeliac Disease is now recognized as a systemic disease that may affect persons of any age and many races and ethnic groups. In this paper we present a case of a 60-year-old woman presented with protein-losing enteropathy associated with partial villous atrophy on distal duodenal biopsy. In Coeliac enteropathy the changes in intestinal permeability is sufficient to cause excessive loss of protein into the gut leading to hypoproteinaemia. The patient had presented with peripheral oedema without liver or renal impairment. The case emphasizes that clinicians should have a heightened suspicion about the disease that may be present at any age in both sexes and in a wide variety of clinical circumstances

Diagnostic delay in clinical practice: A case report of Coeliac disease

Once considered a gastrointestinal disease of childhood affecting mainly whites, Coeliac Disease is now recognized as a systemic disease that may affect persons of any age and many races and ethnic groups. In this paper we present a case of a 60-year-old woman presented with protein-losing enteropathy associated with partial villous atrophy on distal duodenal biopsy. In Coeliac enteropathy the changes in intestinal permeability is sufficient to cause excessive loss of protein into the gut leading to hypoproteinaemia. The patient had presented with peripheral oedema without liver or renal impairment. The case emphasizes that clinicians should have a heightened suspicion about the disease that may be present at any age in both sexes and in a wide variety of clinical circumstances

Human Facial Expression Recognition Using Region-based Motion Estimation

Facial expressions are the indicators to a person’s emotional state and also the principle means of human non-verbal communication. If computers would have the ability to perceive and respond to facial expressions, the human-computer interaction would become much more spontaneous. Although several approaches have been proposed to recognize human facial expressions, none have gained universal acceptability due to their time complexity and difficulty of implementation. This paper proposes a simple method based on region-based motion estimation that can identify facial expressions with acceptable precision in real time. The proposed method identifies six regions of the human face that incur significant visual change caused by the facial motion of expressions. The amount of motion in each region, estimated by the amount of variation in intensity level, is observed and recorded. The results of the observation are used to describe a rulebased classifier that identifies a given emotion as belonging to one of the six universal expressions. The performance of the proposed method is tested on several participants, showing 76% accuracy in recognizing facial expressions

A 32-YEAR-OLD OBESE MALE WITH PROLONGED INCREASED TRANSAMINASE LEVEL ASSOCIATED WITH NASH AFTER HBV HEPATITIS

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is an underdiagnosed liver disease and is the main cause of persistent elevated serum liver enzymes among the general population. Here, we report the case of a 32-year-old obese man who was diagnosed as a case of chronic hepatitis caused by HBV infection. He was treated with Lamivudine for two years. Though his HBV DNA load became negative, he had persistently elevated ALT and AST for two years. Then a liver biopsy was planned for greater diagnostic and prognostic certainty, as the patient was obese, and aspartate transaminase to alanine transaminase ratio was greater than one. The histopathology showed steatosis, ballooning degeneration, microinflammation and fibrosis compatible with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. We present the case as we think that clinicians should be aware of the possibility, that hepatitis B viral hepatitis with prolonged elevated serum liver enzymes might be associated with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis

The polymorphic landscape analysis of GATA1 exons uncovered the genetic variants associated with higher thrombocytopenia in dengue patients.

The current study elucidated an association between gene variants and thrombocytopenia through the investigation of the exonic polymorphic landscape of hematopoietic transcription factor-GATA1 gene in dengue patients. A total of 115 unrelated dengue patients with dengue fever (DF) (N = 91) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) (N = 24) were included in the study. All dengue patients were confirmed through detection of NS1 antigen, IgM, and IgG antibodies against the dengue virus. Polymerase chain reaction using specific primers amplified the exonic regions of GATA1 while Sanger sequencing and chromatogram analyses facilitated the identification of variants. Variants G>A (at chX: 48792009) and C>A (at chX: 4879118) had higher frequency out of 13 variants identified (3 annotated and 10 newly recognized). Patients carrying either nonsynonymous or synonymous variants had significantly lower mean values of platelets compared to those harboring the reference nucleotides (NC_000023.11). Further analyses revealed that the change in amino acid residue leads to the altered three-dimensional structure followed by interaction with neighboring residues. Increased stability of the protein due to substitution of serine by asparagine (S129N at chX: 48792009) may cause increased rigidity followed by reduced structural flexibility which may ultimately disturb the dimerization (an important prerequisite for GATA1 to perform its biological activity) process of the GATA1 protein. This, in turn, may affect the function of GATA1 followed by impaired production of mature platelets which may be reflected by the lower platelet counts in individuals with such variation. In summary, we have identified new variants within the GATA1 gene which were found to be clinically relevant to the outcome of dengue patients and thus, have the potential as candidate biomarkers for the determination of severity and prognosis of thrombocytopenia caused by dengue virus. However, further validation of this study in a large number of dengue patients is warranted. Trial Registration: number SLCTR/2019/037

Public service reformation: Relationship building by mobile technology

Extensive implementation of information and communication technology (ICT)in public administration has created the capacity to reengineer public service systems to develop a new service delivery channel using the continuous interactivity of the

A five-day course of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19 may reduce the duration of illness.

10.1016/j.ijid.2020.11.191Int J Infect Dis103214-21