Kinetics, absorption and diffusion mechanism of crosslinked Chitosan Hydrogels

Green polymers are extremely useful for various environmental applications. One such biopolymer is Chitosan. In this study, crosslinked and physical Chitosan hydrogels were synthesized. The swelling of disc-shaped hydrogels crosslinked using different concentrations of Glutaraldehyde were compared with physical film and bead shaped hydrogels. Best swelling of around 3000% was observed in case of square film shaped hydrogels but they lacked rigidity and dissolved in mild acids. In case of crosslinked hydrogels, as the crosslinker concentration increased, the hydrogels entrapped less water but gained better mechanical strength. Characterization of synthesized crosslinked hydrogels was carried out using FTIR, TGA and DSC. Equilibrium swelling results indicated more water absorption at acidic pH (2.5). Simultaneously, increase in temperature led to enhancement of swelling degree. The hydrogels trapped more water leading to increased swelling, in case of lower molar salt concentrations. Second order kinetics was followed due to stress relaxation of polymeric chain. Diffusion was found to be anomalous since exponent values lied between 0.5 and 1. Peleg‟s and Exponential association model were used to carry out absorption modeling. The data was found to fit the Peleg‟s absorption model. Degree of swelling is a major factor for deciding a hydrogels utility. Swelling ability, biocompatibility and availability of lone pairs of oxygen and nitrogen on the surface of CS makes it ideal for applications in drug delivery, controlled release of fertilizers and adsorption of environmental contaminants

Changes in addressing inequalities in access to hospital care in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra states of India: a difference-in-differences study using repeated cross-sectional surveys

Objectives To compare the effects of the Rajiv Aarogyasri Health Insurance Scheme of Andhra Pradesh (AP) with health financing innovations including the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) in Maharashtra (MH) over time on access to and out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) on hospital inpatient care. Study design A difference-in-differences (DID) study using repeated cross-sectional surveys with parallel control. Setting National Sample Survey Organisation of India (NSSO) urban and rural ‘first stratum units’, 863 in AP and 1008 in MH. Methods We used two cross-sectional surveys: as a baseline, the data from the NSSO 2004 survey collected before the Aarogyasri and RSBY schemes were launched; and as postintervention, a survey using the same methodology conducted in 2012. Participants 8623 households in AP and 10 073 in MH. Main outcome measures Average OOPE, large OOPE and large borrowing per household per year for inpatient care, hospitalisation rate per 1000 population per year. Results Average expenditure, large expenditures and large borrowings on inpatient care had increased in MH and AP, but the increase was smaller in AP across these three measures. DIDs for average expenditure and large borrowings were significant and in favour of AP for the rural and the poorest households. Hospitalisation rates also increased in both states but more so in AP, although the DID was not significant and the subgroup analysis presented a mixed picture. Conclusions Health innovations in AP had a greater beneficial effect on inpatient care-related expenditures than innovations in MH. The Aarogyasri scheme is likely to have contributed to these impacts in AP, at least in part. However, OOPE increased in both states over time. Schemes such as the Aarogyasri and RSBY may result in some positive outcomes, but additional interventions may be required to improve access to care for the most vulnerable sections of the population

Strengthening primary health systems in India

Crippling out of pocket health expenditure and lack of access to health care among the poor are significant challenges to improving health in India. In the highly populated states of Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Madhya Pradesh (MP), which are home to 154 million people, many live in poverty and suffer high rates of disease and mortality. Leading international health expert Professor Mala Rao has been evaluating health financing schemes in both of these states to assess their effectiveness and efficiency on behalf of organisations such as the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and supported by the Wellcome Trust, IDRC and the Rockefeller Foundation. Rao’s review of the Government of Madhya Pradesh’s State Illness Assistance Fund (SIAF) revealed that the scheme was underused and inequitable. It also exposed a poor data management system and highlighted that access to treatment was complex and burdensome. The review supported the development of more efficient financial support for care of the seriously ill and led to significant improvements such as the constitution of a State Steering Group which was tasked with overseeing the restructuring of the scheme. Government orders reflecting Rao’s recommendations have since resulted in a change to the fund management and delivery, re-negotiated costs with healthcare providers, devolved powers to authorize funds at district level, and better verification of SIAF-funded patients. Subsequently, the World Bank has acknowledged ‘substantial progress’ in the management of the scheme, laying the foundations for the eventual development of a single comprehensive health delivery system. For citizens, the number of annual total approvals for treatment has risen more than threefold, and a new feedback system is now being used to support improved monitoring, evaluation and selection of healthcare providers. A separate assessment of the Government of Andhra Pradesh’s (GoAP) Rajiv Aarogyasri Community Health Insurance scheme indicated a need for hospital-based healthcare schemes to be built on a strong platform of primary (family) care. The assessment also informed the development of a similar scheme in Maharashtra, the 'control' state in the research. Findings from both assessments supported the promotion of comprehensive primary care as the most effective means to reduce healthcare costs and improve health literacy, helping people to better understand their health care entitlements and navigate complex care pathways. In recognition of her work, Rao was appointed by the Chair of the Health Workstream of the UK-India CEO Forum as the Public Health academic expert to lead the development of a White Paper exploring the benefits and practicalities of a primary care partnership between India and the UK. The paper reached a very wide global audience of health policy leaders when it was published in the British Medical Journal in May 2012 (doi:10.1136/bmj.e3151). In India, the paper, and its discussion at a UK-India workshop in 2012, influenced the Government of India to encourage states to plan primary care pilots which would inform the development of comprehensive primary care, as a crucial platform for affordable universal health care. In Kerala, Rao has helped to develop proposals for piloting a new model of care across three primary health centres. In May 2013, the Government of India approved funding for the Government of Kerala to implement the proposal, which if successful, will be replicated across the country to reduce out-of-pocket expenses for outpatient care, provide better and more comprehensive and systematic community based care for people with a wide range of medical conditions, and reduce the need for secondary care.Impact case study - UEL website versionImpact case study submitted to REF2014 assessmen

Mantle redox state drives outgassing chemistry and atmospheric composition of rocky planets

Volcanic degassing of planetary interiors has important implications for their corresponding atmospheres. The oxidation state of rocky interiors affects the volatile partitioning during mantle melting and subsequent volatile speciation near the surface. Here we show that the mantle redox state is central to the chemical composition of atmospheres while factors such as planetary mass, thermal state, and age mainly affect the degassing rate. We further demonstrate that mantle oxygen fugacity has an effect on atmospheric thickness and that volcanic degassing is most efficient for planets between 2 and 4 Earth masses. We show that outgassing of reduced systems is dominated by strongly reduced gases such as H2, with only smaller fractions of moderately reduced/oxidised gases (CO, H2O). Overall, a reducing scenario leads to a lower atmospheric pressure at the surface and to a larger atmospheric thickness compared to an oxidised system. Atmosphere predictions based on interior redox scenarios can be compared to observations of atmospheres of rocky exoplanets, potentially broadening our knowledge on the diversity of exoplanetary redox states

Exercising D. melanogaster modulates the mitochondrial proteome and physiology - the effect on lifespan depends upon age and sex

Ageing is a major risk factor for many of the most prevalent diseases, including neurodegenerative disease, cancer and heart disease. As the global population continues to age, behavioural interventions that can promote healthy ageing will improve quality of life and relieve the socio-economic burden that comes with an aged society. Exercise is recognised as an effective intervention against many diseases of ageing, but we don’t know the stage in an individual’s lifetime in which exercise is most effective at promoting healthy ageing and whether it has a direct effect on lifespan. We exercised w 1118 Drosophila melanogaster, interrogating effects of sex and group size, at different stages of their lifetime and recorded their lifespan. Climbing scores at 30 days were measured to record differences in fitness in response to exercise. We also assessed the mitochondrial proteome of w 1118 Drosophila that had been exercised for one week, alongside mitochondrial respiration measured using High-Resolution Respirometry, to determine changes in mitochondrial physiology in response to exercise. We found that age-targeted exercise interventions improve lifespan in male and female Drosophila, and grouped males exercised in late life had improved climbing scores, when compared with those exercised throughout their entire lifespan. The proteins of the electron transport chain were significantly upregulated in expression after one week of exercise, and complex II linked respiration was significantly increased in exercised Drosophila. Taken together our study provides a basis to test specific proteins and complex II of the respiratory chain as important effectors of exercise induced healthy ageing

Changes in addressing inequalities in access to hospital care in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra states of India: a difference-in-differences study using repeated cross-sectional surveys

Objectives: To compare the effects of the Rajiv Aarogyasri Health Insurance Scheme of Andhra Pradesh (AP) with health financing innovations including the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) in Maharashtra (MH) over time on access to and out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) on hospital inpatient care. Study design: A difference-in-differences (DID) study using repeated cross-sectional surveys with parallel control. Setting: National Sample Survey Organisation of India (NSSO) urban and rural ‘first stratum units’, 863 in AP and 1008 in MH. Methods: We used two cross-sectional surveys: as a baseline, the data from the NSSO 2004 survey collected before the Aarogyasri and RSBY schemes were launched; and as postintervention, a survey using the same methodology conducted in 2012. Participants: 8623 households in AP and 10 073 in MH. Main outcome measures: Average OOPE, large OOPE and large borrowing per household per year for inpatient care, hospitalisation rate per 1000 population per year. Results: Average expenditure, large expenditures and large borrowings on inpatient care had increased in MH and AP, but the increase was smaller in AP across these three measures. DIDs for average expenditure and large borrowings were significant and in favour of AP for the rural and the poorest households. Hospitalisation rates also increased in both states but more so in AP, although the DID was not significant and the subgroup analysis presented a mixed picture. Conclusions: Health innovations in AP had a greater beneficial effect on inpatient care-related expenditures than innovations in MH. The Aarogyasri scheme is likely to have contributed to these impacts in AP, at least in part. However, OOPE increased in both states over time. Schemes such as the Aarogyasri and RSBY may result in some positive outcomes, but additional interventions may be required to improve access to care for the most vulnerable sections of the population

Plasmonically Enhanced Reflectance of Heat Radiation from Low-Bandgap Semiconductor Microinclusions

Increased reflectance from the inclusion of highly scattering particles at low volume fractions in an insulating dielectric offers a promising way to reduce radiative thermal losses at high temperatures. Here, we investigate plasmonic resonance driven enhanced scattering from microinclusions of low-bandgap semiconductors (InP, Si, Ge, PbS, InAs and Te) in an insulating composite to tailor its infrared reflectance for minimizing thermal losses from radiative transfer. To this end, we compute the spectral properties of the microcomposites using Monte Carlo modeling and compare them with results from Fresnel equations. The role of particle size-dependent Mie scattering and absorption efficiencies, and, scattering anisotropy are studied to identify the optimal microinclusion size and material parameters for maximizing the reflectance of the thermal radiation. For composites with Si and Ge microinclusions we obtain reflectance efficiencies of 57 - 65% for the incident blackbody radiation from sources at temperatures in the range 400 - 1600 {\deg}C. Furthermore, we observe a broadbanding of the reflectance spectra from the plasmonic resonances due to charge carriers generated from defect states within the semiconductor bandgap. Our results thus open up the possibility of developing efficient high-temperature thermal insulators through use of the low-bandgap semiconductor microinclusions in insulating dielectrics.Comment: Main article (8 Figures and 2 Tables) + Supporting Information (8 Figures