Evidence of surface cooling from absorbing aerosols

Anthropogenic emissions over the Asian region have grown rapidly with increase in population and industrialization. Air-pollutants from this region lead to a brownish haze over most of the North Indian Ocean and South Asia during winter and spring. The haze, with as much as 10–15% of black carbon (by mass), is known to reduce the surface solar insolation by about 10% (−15 Wm−2) and nearly double the lower atmospheric solar heating. Here we present an analysis of observed surface-temperature variations over the Indian subcontinent, which filters out effects of greenhouse gases and natural variability. The analysis reveals that the absorbing aerosols have led to a statistically significant cooling of about 0.3°C since the 1970s. The seasonally asymmetric cooling, which is consistent with the seasonality of the South Asian aerosol forcing, raises the new possibility that the surface cooling underneath the polluted regions, is balanced by warming elsewhere

Influence of Citrate, Mandelate & Succinate on Titanium(IV)-Gallic Acid System

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Residue conservation and dimer-interface analysis of olfactory receptor molecular models

Olfactory Receptors (ORs) are members of the Class A rhodopsin like G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) which are the initial players in the signal transduction cascade, leading to the generation of nerve impulses transmitted to the brain and resulting in the detection of odorant molecules. Despite the accumulation of thousands of olfactory receptor sequences, no crystal structures of ORs are known tο date. However, the recent availability of crystallographic models of a few GPCRs allows us to generate homology models of ORs and analyze their amino acid patterns, as there is a huge diversity in OR sequences. In this study, we have generated three-dimensional models of 100 representative ORs from Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans and Sacharomyces cerevisiae which were selected on the basis of a composite classification scheme and phylogenetic analysis. The crystal structure of bovine rhodopsin was used as a template and it was found that the full-length models have more than 90% of their residues in allowed regions of the Ramachandran plot. The structures were further used for analysis of conserved residues in the transmembrane and extracellular loop regions in order to identify functionally important residues. Several ORs are known to be functional as dimers and hence dimer interfaces were predicted for OR models to analyse their oligomeric functional state

EMR Adoption: A User Perception Study

Despite promise of significant benefits, inadequate user acceptance has frequently limited the impact of EMR implementations. Using an action research approach, our team is participating in an EMR implementation at Aravind Eye Care System (AECS), one of the largest eye hospitals in the world, to observe its current practices, measure user perceptions of EMR, plan interventions, and assess their impact. Our proximate research objective is to develop interventions based on sound conceptual foundations and empirical validation rather than in an ad hoc manner, to facilitate EMR acceptance by AECS hospital staff. The ensuing goal is to learn from the post intervention findings to develop guidelines for EMR implementations, particularly in a developing country context. In this paper we report on the first phase of this study, and these initial results show how even simple analysis of perception patterns can help to customize and shape intervention plans

Productivity, performance and technical efficiency in banking: the foreign bank’s Saga in the context of financial reforms in India

This paper is an attempt to examine the total productivity growth of foreign banks for the period 2002-2003 to 2013-2014. Data of ten major foreign sector banks for twelve years were used for the analysis and interpretation. Malmquist Productivity Index and Input oriented CRS data envelopment analysis are being used to measure the productivity of these banks over the years. Along with the productivity of foreign sector banks, their performances were also determined through ratios. The results show that the foreign sector banks has obtained an excellent mean TFP of 1.06 and nine foreign sector banks has obtained an eligible score of one which depicts that foreign sector banks are doing well in the country. The excellent performance of foreign sector banks in the banking industry is further substantiated with the ratios. The study has revealed that by enlarging the scope of foreign banks will obviously bring growth, development and technological advancement in the Indian banking Sector. The Kelaniya Journal of Management, Vol. 4(1); 2015: 50-6

Energetics Based Spike Generation of a Single Neuron: Simulation Results and Analysis

Existing current based models that capture spike activity, though useful in studying information processing capabilities of neurons, fail to throw light on their internal functioning. It is imperative to develop a model that captures the spike train of a neuron as a function of its intracellular parameters for non-invasive diagnosis of diseased neurons. This is the first ever article to present such an integrated model that quantifies the inter-dependency between spike activity and intracellular energetics. The generated spike trains from our integrated model will throw greater light on the intracellular energetics than existing current models. Now, an abnormality in the spike of a diseased neuron can be linked and hence effectively analyzed at the energetics level. The spectral analysis of the generated spike trains in a time–frequency domain will help identify abnormalities in the internals of a neuron. As a case study, the parameters of our model are tuned for Alzheimer’s disease and its resultant spike trains are studied and presented. This massive initiative ultimately aims to encompass the entire molecular signaling pathways of the neuronal bioenergetics linking it to the voltage spike initiation and propagation; due to the lack of experimental data quantifying the inter dependencies among the parameters, the model at this stage adopts a particular level of functionality and is shown as an approach to study and perform disease modeling at the spike train and the mitochondrial bioenergetics level

Future changes in tropical cyclone activity in the North Indian Ocean projected by high-resolution MRI-AGCMs

Open Access at publisher's web site: http://www.springerlink.com/content/b682734237171631

Post-Transplant Outcomes in High-Risk Compared with Non-High-Risk Multiple Myeloma: A CIBMTR Analysis.

Conventional cytogenetics and interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) identify high-risk multiple myeloma (HRM) populations characterized by poor outcomes. We analyzed these differences among HRM versus non-HRM populations after upfront autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (autoHCT). Between 2008 and 2012, 715 patients with multiple myeloma identified by FISH and/or cytogenetic data with upfront autoHCT were identified in the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research database. HRM was defined as del17p, t(4;14), t(14;16), hypodiploidy (-Y) or chromosome 1 p and 1q abnormalities; all others were non-HRM. Among 125 HRM patients (17.5%), induction with bortezomib and immunomodulatory agents (imids) was higher compared with non-HRM (56% versus 43%, P \u3c .001) with similar pretransplant complete response (CR) rates (14% versus 16%, P .1). At day 100 post-transplant, at least a very good partial response was 59% in HRM and 61% in non-HRM (P = .6). More HRM patients received post-transplant therapy with bortezomib and imids (26% versus 12%, P = .004). Three-year post-transplant progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates in HRM versus non-HRM were 37% versus 49% (P \u3c .001) and 72% versus 85% (P \u3c .001), respectively. At 3 years, PFS for HRM patients with and without post-transplant therapy was 46% (95% confidence interval [CI], 33 to 59) versus 14% (95% CI, 4 to 29) and in non-HRM patients with and without post-transplant therapy 55% (95% CI, 49 to 62) versus 39% (95% CI, 32 to 47); rates of OS for HRM patients with and without post-transplant therapy were 81% (95% CI, 70 to 90) versus 48% (95% CI, 30 to 65) compared with 88% (95% CI, 84 to 92) and 79% (95% CI, 73 to 85) in non-HRM patients with and without post-transplant therapy, respectively. Among patients receiving post-transplant therapy, there was no difference in OS between HRM and non-HRM (P = .08). In addition to HRM, higher stage, less than a CR pretransplant, lack of post-transplant therapy, and African American race were associated with worse OS. In conclusion, we show HRM patients achieve similar day 100 post-transplant responses compared with non-HRM patients, but these responses are not sustained. Post-transplant therapy appeared to improve the poor outcomes of HRM