Intra-articular nerve growth factor regulates development, but not maintenance, of injury-induced facet joint pain & spinal neuronal hypersensitivity

SummaryObjectiveThe objective of the current study is to define whether intra-articular nerve growth factor (NGF), an inflammatory mediator that contributes to osteoarthritic pain, is necessary and sufficient for the development or maintenance of injury-induced facet joint pain and its concomitant spinal neuronal hyperexcitability.MethodMale Holtzman rats underwent painful cervical facet joint distraction (FJD) or sham procedures. Mechanical hyperalgesia was assessed in the forepaws, and NGF expression was quantified in the C6/C7 facet joint. An anti-NGF antibody was administered intra-articularly in additional rats immediately or 1 day following facet distraction or sham procedures to block intra-articular NGF and test its contribution to initiation and/or maintenance of facet joint pain and spinal neuronal hyperexcitability. NGF was injected into the bilateral C6/C7 facet joints in separate rats to determine if NGF alone is sufficient to induce these behavioral and neuronal responses.ResultsNGF expression increases in the cervical facet joint in association with behavioral sensitivity after that joint's mechanical injury. Intra-articular application of anti-NGF immediately after a joint distraction prevents the development of both injury-induced pain and hyperexcitability of spinal neurons. Yet, intra-articular anti-NGF applied after pain has developed does not attenuate either behavioral or neuronal hyperexcitability. Intra-articular NGF administered to the facet in naïve rats also induces behavioral hypersensitivity and spinal neuronal hyperexcitability.ConclusionFindings demonstrate that NGF in the facet joint contributes to the development of injury-induced joint pain. Localized blocking of NGF signaling in the joint may provide potential treatment for joint pain

Landfill Leaching: an Experimental Investigation Using Column Apparatus

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv

Star formation in the region of young open cluster - NGC 225

NGC 225 is believed to be a 120 Myr old open cluster located at ∼ 650 pc. Eight stars with Hα emission are found to be located around the cluster, of which two are probable Herbig Be stars, indicating a very young age for the cluster. To explore whether the Herbig Be stars, which are premain sequence (PMS) stars are part of this cluster, we re-estimated the cluster parameters using optical (UBV)pg and 2MASS JHK photometry. We combined the above data to detect the presence of any possible PMS stars in the cluster region. Among the identified 28 proper motion members, 15 stars were found to have near-infrared (NIR) excess indicating that they are PMS stars. Also, most of the upper MS stars were found to show NIR excess suggesting that the brighter proper motion member stars have not yet reached the MS. PMS isochrones were used to estimate the age of stars with NIR excess and is found to be between 0.5–10 Myr. Thus, the cluster NGC 225 is a very young cluster, younger than 10 Myr and its age is not 120 Myr as previously believed. We propose that a recent star formation has resulted in the formation of NGC 225, two Herbig Be stars, stars with Hα emission, dust lanes and nebulosity in the vicinity of the cluster

Parallel twin-body trawl for shrimps, its design and efficiency

Comparative studies with a new 17 m parallel twin-body trawl and a 17 m bulged belly trawl conducted off Cochin during 1974-77 are reported. The parallel twin body trawl showed an increase of 28% in catch over that of bulged belly with a break up of 39.9% and 23.1 % for prawns and fishes respectively. The increase in catch is attributed to the extra wide mouth opening (26.6 %) of the parallel twin-body trawl. Parallel twin-body trawl had 8.96% lesser resistance which resulted in lower utilization of horse power

Impact of social factors on health practices of the elderly: an analytical study in rural Surendranagar

Introduction: Increased attention to health promotion and disease prevention are important for the appropriate care of the elderly. With the increasing life expectancy, a focus on preventive measures to decrease morbidity and improve quality of life in old age has also developed. To that end, health behavior and lifestyle have become important areas of concern over the last 20 years. Social factors lay a significant impact on the health practices. This study was therefore taken up to study the above factor and draw conclusions.Aims and objectives: 1. To study the various health practices of the elderly. 2. To find out association between the socio demographic features and the prevailing health practices.Methods: A Cross sectional analytical study was carried out. All the subjects were interviewed personally to know the details and were treated with due respect after a consent. Out of all the talukas in rural Surendranagar, Sayla was selected randomly after which Sayla village was selected in a similar manner from all the villages in the talukas.Results: The mean age of the subjects was 68±7.5. Majority of the subjects were unemployed and illiterate (58%). Social factors like Social class, staying with children and staying in joint family were significantly associated with good health practices.Conclusions: The Health practices of the elderly can be improved upon by large scale health education programmes which can be targeted on the age group. Patient compliance improvement can be achieved by explaining them about the disease and treatment protocol in detail at the time of their health visit.

Adsorption of CO on NaZSM-5 zeolite under moderate temperature and pressure conditions: an FTIR investigation

Adsorption of CO on NaZSM-5 zeolite was investigated at temperatures in the range 300-470 K and at pressures of 5-500 Torr using FTIR spectroscopy. The effect of exchanging the charge balancing cation in NaZSM-5 with a proton or calcium was evaluated. Data were also collected on NaY, CaY and CaX zeolites for comparison. We detected the development of six distinct CwO stretching bands with maxima at around 2111, 2130, 2146, 2160, 2176 and 2194 cm-1 during the adsorption of CO on NaZSM-5 zeolite at ambient temperatures. This was accompanied by the appearance of a prominent band at 2356 cm-1 and weak shoulder bands at frequencies around 2336, 2340, 2370 and 2380 cm-1 in the ν3 region of All the ν(CO) bands and CO2 . also the bands in the ν3 region of CO2 exhibited similar behaviour as a function of adsorbate pressure, evacuation, rise in sample temperature, and the exchange of charge balancing cation. For instance, the intensity of all the CwO stretching bands showed a similar growth behaviour with increasing adsorbate pressure, though the extent of this growth was di.erent for the individual IR bands. Similarly, these bands were removed simultaneously on evacuation. Furthermore, while all the vibrational bands in the v(CO) region showed a uniform isotopic shift corresponding to a frequency ratio ν(13C/12C) of ca. 0.977 and ν(18O/16O) of 0.976 for the adsorption of 13C16O and 12C18O, respectively, the bands in the ν3(CO2) region showed a red shift ?(13C/12C) of 0.972 with 13CO and an isotopic shift corresponding to 16O12C18O on 12C18O adsorption. No shift in ν(OH) bands was observed after CO adsorption under the conditions of this study. The results thus indicate that the individual zeolitic surface sites e.g., the Al3+ sites, Bronsted acid sites or the charge balancing cations, may not participate directly in the bonding of CO molecules at room temperature or above. Instead, the cage effect of zeolites plays an important role. The data are interpreted to suggest the formation of weakly bonded clusters of CO and CO2 molecules, occluded in the zeolitic cages and stabilized under the cationic field

Spectroscopic study of Herbig Ae/Be stars in the Galactic Anti-center region from LAMOST DR5

We study a sample of 119 Herbig Ae/Be stars in the Galactic anti-center direction using the spectroscopic data from Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) survey program. Emission lines of hydrogen belonging to the Balmer and Paschen series, and metallic lines of species such as FeII, OI, CaII triplet are identified. A moderate correlation is observed between the emission strengths of H$\alpha$ and FeII 5169 \r{A}, suggesting a possible common emission region for FeII lines and one of the components of H$\alpha$. We explored a technique for the extinction correction of the HAeBe stars using diffuse interstellar bands present in the spectrum. We estimated the stellar parameters such as age and mass of these HAeBe stars, which are found to be in the range 0.1 -- 10 Myr and 1.5 -- 10 $M_{\odot}$, respectively. We found that the mass accretion rate of the HAeBe stars in the Galactic anti-center direction follows the relation $\dot{M}_{acc}$ $\propto$ $M_{*}^{3.12^{+0.21}_{-0.34}}$, which is similar to the relation derived for HAeBe stars in other regions of the Galaxy. The mass accretion rate of HAeBe stars is found to have a functional form of $\dot{M}_{acc} \propto t^{-1.1 \pm 0.2}$ with age, in agreement with previous studies.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

Detonator using Nickel Hydrazine Nitrate as Primary Explosive

Nickel hydrazine nitrate is an energetic coordination compound having explosiveproperties in between that of primary and secondary. This compound was used to develop a newtype of detonator by replacing the sensitive primary explosive, lead azide in conventionaldetonators and keeping RDX (cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine) as the output secondary explosive.The detonator consists of three regions, viz., initiation, deflagration-to-detonation transition(DDT), and output. The initiation and the electrical rating of 1A/1W no-fire were achieved usinga suitable squib. The DDT and the output were taken care of, by pressing requisite quantitiesof Nickel hydrazine nitrate and RDX, respectively at required densities in a stainless steel stemchannel. The detonator assembly involves crimping the squib and the stem channel in a stainlesssteel housing and applying a suitable resin at the crimped-end for leak tightness. The outputwas assessed from the dent depth on aluminium plate, volume expansion on lead block, and byachieving veloctiy of detonation of 8200 m/s in mild detonating cords, containing 0.95 g/m ofRDX, which indicates full-order detonation. The detonators were tested at system level andfound to perform satisfactorily