Colonic perforation secondary to post traumatic diaphragmatic hernia: a case report

Post traumatic diaphragmatic hernia (PTDH) is a rare cause of large bowel obstruction, and can present weeks or years after the initial trauma. We report the case of a 42 years old male adult who presented in emergency with features of acute generalised peritonitis secondary to closed loop obstruction. Patient had history of fall leading to blunt trauma chest 9 months back which was managed with Intercostal drainage (ICD) left chest at that time. Chest radiography showed multiple air-fluid levels in the left upper quadrant, an air-fluid level in the left thoracic cavity and significant free air under the right side of diaphragm. On laparotomy there was feculent material in abdominal cavity, dilated caecum, ascending colon, transverse colon with invagination of splenic flexure of colon into thoracic cavity. A segment of transverse colon was gangrenous and there was a perforation of size 2 x 2 cm present. Right hemicolectomy performed and loop ileostomy along with DMF transverse colon fashioned in emergency setting. Diaphragmatic hernia repaired after 3 months. Posttraumatic diaphragmatic hernias should be part of the differential diagnosis for patients with bowel obstruction, especially if there is a history of trauma. Radiography is useful in facilitating a quick diagnosis. When patients present complications, there is a higher rate of morbidity and mortality (31%) therefore emergency surgery is mandatory

Bi2WO6/C-dots/TiO2: A novel z-scheme photocatalyst for the degradation of fluoroquinolone levofloxacin from aqueous medium

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Photocatalytic materials and semiconductors of appropriate structural and morphological architectures as well as energy band gaps are materials needed for mitigating current environmental problems, as these materials have the ability to exploit the full spectrum of solar light in several applications. Thus, constructing a Z-scheme heterojunction is an ideal approach to overcoming the limitations of a single component or traditional heterogeneous catalysts for the competent removal of organic chemicals present in wastewater, to mention just one of the areas of application. A Z-scheme catalyst possesses many attributes, including enhanced light-harvesting capacity, strong redox ability and different oxidation and reduction positions. In the present work, a novel ternary Z-scheme photocatalyst, i.e., Bi2WO6/C-dots/TiO2, has been prepared by a facile chemical wet technique. The prepared solar light-driven Z-scheme composite was characterized by many analytical and spectroscopic practices, including powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), N2 adsorption–desorption isotherm, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), photoluminescence (PL) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The photocatalytic activity of the Bi2WO6/C-dots/TiO2 composite was evaluated by studying the degradation of fluoroquinolone drug, levofloxacin under solar light irradiation. Almost complete (99%) decomposition of the levofloxacin drug was observed in 90 min of sunlight irradiation. The effect of catalyst loading, initial substrate concentration and pH of the reaction was also optimized. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared catalyst was also compared with that of bare Bi2WO6, TiO2 and TiO2/C-dots under optimized conditions. Scavenger radical trap studies and terephthalic acid (TPA) fluorescence technique were done to understand the role of the photo-induced active radical ions that witnessed the decomposition of levofloxacin. Based on these studies, the plausible degradation trail of levofloxacin was proposed and was further supported by LC-MS analysis

Solar light driven photocatalytic degradation of levofloxacin using TiO2/carbon-dot nanocomposites

This paper reports the synthesis of TiO2 quantum dots, carbon dots (C-dots), and TiO2/C-dots using facile sol-gel and hydrothermal methods. The synthesized quantum dots were further characterized in detail to understand their crystalline, structural, morphological, thermal and optical properties using various spectroscopic and analytical techniques. The characterization results confirmed that the prepared photocatalysts exhibited high crystallinity, purity and excellent optical properties. The morphological results indicated that the C-dots were uniformly distributed over the TiO2 quantum dots and nanocomposites have an average size of 12 nm. Furthermore, the prepared sample, i.e. TiO2/C-dots, was efficiently employed as a potential heterogeneous photocatalyst for solar light driven photocatalytic degradation of a fluoroquinolone antibiotic drug levofloxacin. To optimize the photocatalytic degradation experiments, various catalyst dose-dependent, pH-dependent, and initial drug-concentration dependent experiments were carried out. The photocatalytic experiments revealed almost complete photocatalytic degradation of levofloxacin (10 mg L-1) within 90 minutes of solar light illumination using the TiO2/C-dots under optimum conditions, whereas bare TiO2 showed only 66.5% degradation of the drug. Different commercial photocatalysts such as TiO2 PC-50 and TiO2 PC-500 were also used for comparing the photocatalytic efficiency of the synthesized photocatalyst. Furthermore, the stability of the photocatalyst was studied by performing recyclability experiments up to 5 cycles using the TiO2/C-dots, indicating that the nanocomposites could be reused without any significant loss. The TOC results indicated the simultaneous 53.4% mineralization and photocatalytic degradation of levofloxacin under optimized conditions. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposites was attributed to the presence of the C-dots in the system, which provided more active sites for the drug molecules and also restricted the recombination of charge carriers. The role of active radical species in the photocatalytic degradation of levofloxacin was also investigated. A photocatalytic degradation mechanism and pathway were also proposed

Assessment of oral health status among schoolteachers in Dharamshala City, Himachal Pradesh

Background: The study aimed to assess the oral health status among schoolteachers in Dharamshala city, Himachal Pradesh. Methods: The cross-sectional study design with probability stratified random sampling was used. The data were collected by Type III examination recorded on a structured pro forma adapted from the WHO oral assessment for adults 2013 (by tooth surface) form. Results: The overall prevalence of dental caries by surface (primary and secondary caries) among teachers was 1.6%. The mean decayed-missing-filled teeth (DMFT) were 3.79 ± 2.52 and the mean decayed-missing-filled surfaces (DMFS) were 9.68 ± 7.95. Loss of attachment (LOA) per sextant for score 1 was higher for index tooth 31 among all sextants and in all teacher groups, and the difference was statistically significant in all sextants. Similarly, LOA per sextant for score 1 was higher among female school teachers consuming mixed diet, and the difference was statistically significant for all sextants except for 31 for gender and 11 for type of diet with statistically nonsignificant association. Conclusion: The mean DMFT were reported higher in private school teachers than government teachers which were due to higher filled component in the DMFT indicating better utilization of health services among private teachers. The DMFS were reported higher in government elementary teachers, and the difference was statistically significant with government secondary teachers which is due to higher missing component probably due to lower educational qualification among government elementary teachers with low awareness and reduced utilization of health services. Loss of Attachment indicating the destructive and degenerative periodontal status was a predictor of periodontitis in the study among school teachers in the age group of 41–50 years

Visible-light driven photocatalytic degradation of brilliant green dye based on cobalt tungstate (CoWO4) nanoparticles

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. Herein, we report the successful surfactant free synthesis, characterization and visible light driven photocatalytic application of highly crystalline cobalt tungstate (CoWO4) nanoparticles. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by several techniques which revealed that CoWO4 exhibited monoclinic phase of Wolframite structure, possess high crystallinity and grown in very high density. As the tungstate nanomaterials are hardly investigated as visible light responsive photocatalyst for the removal of organic pollutants in aqueous phase, thus, in this paper the photocatalytic efficiency of cobalt tungstate nanoparticles was estimated by monitoring the degradation of brilliant green dye under visible light irradiation. Approximately 94% brilliant green dye was degraded within 120 min of visible light illumination. Hydroxyl radicals were held to be accountable for the excellent photocatalytic performance. The present study offers an innovative approach stating that metal tungstates can also be considered as proficient visible light responsive photocatalysts for the degradation of hazardous organic contaminants from aqueous phase

Association between asthma and chronic periodontitis -A Case–Control Study in Shimla-Himachal Pradesh

Introduction: The colonization of respiratory pathogens appears to be a risk factor for lung infection in high-risk individuals. Evidences dictate a bidirectional relationship between periodontitis and asthma. Aim: The aim of this study is to explore this potential association between asthma and periodontal disease. Materials and Methods: In a case–control study the individuals were selected from patients attending asthma clinic in a hospital. Individuals consist of fifty asthmatics and fifty nonasthmatic healthy controls evaluated for plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), papillary bleeding index (PBI), calculus index (CI), and clinical attachment level (CAL). The data were analyzed by SPSS version 16. Results: Mean PI scores was 0.649 ± 0.316 for control group in comparison to 1.168 ± 0.46 for asthmatic group. Statistically significant difference among two groups was obtained on a comparison of GI score (P = 0.0231) CI scores (0.0461) for control group. CAL was 3.817 ± 0.722 mm and 4.964 ± 0.871 mm in control group and case group, respectively. The difference of CAL for two groups was statistically highly significant (P = 0.004). Comparison of PBI of test group and control group showed significant difference Comparison of all the parameters for two subgroups (mild asthmatics and moderate-to-severe asthmatics), i.e. PI, CI, GI, and PBI was statistically significant with P value for respective scores as 0.0281, 0.04, 0.027, and 0.0162. CAL measurement for both groups was highly significant (P = 0.001). Conclusion: The present study reveals an association between the occurrence of chronic periodontitis and asthma. Both periodontal and respiratory diseases have an inflammatory nature. Parameters measured using different indices have revealed higher scores for the asthmatics than nonasthmatics

Predicting COVID-19 cases using SARS-CoV-2 RNA in air, surface swab and wastewater samples

Genomic footprints of pathogens shed by infected individuals can be traced in environmental samples, which can serve as a noninvasive method of infectious disease surveillance. The research evaluates the efficacy of environmental monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in air, surface swabs and wastewater to predict COVID-19 cases. Using a prospective experimental design, air, surface swabs, and wastewater samples were collected from a college dormitory housing roughly 500 students from March to May 2021 at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL. Students were randomly screened for COVID-19 during the study period. SARS-CoV-2 concentration in environmental samples was quantified using Volcano 2nd Generation-qPCR. Descriptive analyses were conducted to examine the associations between time-lagged SARS-CoV-2 in environmental samples and COVID-19 cases. SARS-CoV-2 was detected in air, surface swab and wastewater samples on 52 (63.4 %), 40 (50.0 %) and 57 (68.6 %) days, respectively. On 19 (24 %) of 78 days SARS-CoV-2 was detected in all three sample types. COVID-19 cases were reported on 11 days during the study period and SARS-CoV-2 was also detected two days before the case diagnosis on all 11 (100 %), 9 (81.8 %) and 8 (72.7 %) days in air, surface swab and wastewater samples, respectively. SARS-CoV-2 detection in environmental samples was an indicator of the presence of local COVID-19 cases and a 3-day lead indicator for a potential outbreak at the dormitory building scale. Proactive environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 or other pathogens in multiple environmental media has potential to guide targeted measures to contain and/or mitigate infectious disease outbreaks within communities.[Display omitted]•SARS-CoV-2 in environmental samples a 2-day lead indicator of COVID-19 cases.•Environmental monitoring SARS-CoV-2 predicted all COVID-19 cases in a dormitory.•SARS-CoV-2 was detected in air and wastewater and on high touch surfaces.•Daily variations in SARS-CoV-2 concentration in environmental samples was observed