Elastic and structural instability of cubic Sn3N4 and C3N4 under pressure

We use in-situ high pressure angle dispersive x-ray diffraction measurements to determine the equation of state of cubic tin nitride Sn3N4 under pressure up to about 26 GPa. While we find no evidence for any structural phase transition, our estimate of the bulk modulus (B) is 145 GPa, much lower than the earlier theoretical estimates and that of other group IV-nitrides. We corroborate and understand these results with complementary first-principles analysis of structural, elastic and vibrational properties of group IV-nitrides, and predict a structural transition of Sn3N4 at a higher pressure of 88 GPa compared to earlier predictions of 40 GPa. Our comparative analysis of cubic nitrides shows that bulk modulus of cubic C3N4 is the highest (379 GPa) while it is structurally unstable and should not exist at ambient conditions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Foodoceuticals Ensuring Improved Well Being Beyond basic Nutrition

Adequate nutrition is very essential for Armed Forces in terms of maintaining the nutritional status. In the present review it was complied about dietary habit and required diet for Service personnel to become fit and control the life style disease such as diabetes, obesity, cancer, hypertension and cardiovascular disease etc. It also focuses on functional foods rather than normal diet which are recommended as ration pack for armed forces. Functional foods enrich and improve the quality of dietary intake. It also represents promising avenues of nutritional in recent days of global dietetics. Functional ingredients such as essential fatty acids, antioxidants, dietary fibre, isoflavones, β-carotene etc are included in ration pack. It also provide large varieties of functional foods are made available to the consumers with the intension to provide dietary management of life style diseases while enhancing our overall well being conversely. It must be understood that these foods and ingredients are not instant medicine or ultimate remedies for imbalance dietary habits as proper diet management. It also provides comprehensive approach for good physical and mental health.   &nbsp

Usefulness of Organic Acid Produced by Exiguobacterium sp. 12/1 on Neutralization of Alkaline Wastewater

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of organic acids produced by Exiguobacterium sp. strain 12/1 (DSM 21148) in neutralization of alkaline wastewater emanated from beverage industry. This bacterium is known to be able to grow in medium of pH as high as pH 12.0 and to neutralize alkaline industrial wastewater from pH 12.0 to pH 7.5. The initial investigation on the type of functional groups present in medium, carried out using FT-IR spectroscopy, revealed the presence of peaks corresponding to carbonyl group and hydroxyl group, suggesting the release of carboxylic acid or related metabolic product(s). The identification of specific carboxylic group, carried out using RP-HPLC, revealed the presence of a single peak in the culture supernatant with retention time most similar to formic acid. The concentration of acid produced on different carbon sources was studied as a function of time. Although acid was present in same final concentration, the rate of acid production was highest in case of medium supplemented with sucrose followed by fructose and glucose. The knowledge of metabolic products of the bacterium can be considered as a first step towards realization of its potential for large-scale bioremediation of alkaline wastewater from beverage industry

Seroprevalence of transfusion transmissible infections among healthy blood donors at KIMS blood bank

Background: Safe blood is a critical component in improving health care and in preventing the spread of infectious diseases. Aims & Objectives: Blood transfusion can cause the transmission of infectious to recipients. This is an important mode of infection. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of such type of infection among blood donors and to compare the seroprevalence of transfusion transmitted diseases in blood donors. Retrospective study was conducted for 5 years from January-2009 to December-2013 at KIMS Blood Bank, Secunderabad. Materials and methods: All donors reporting to the blood bank during the period January-2009 to December-2013 were screened for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) 1 & 2, hepatitis C viruses, malaria and syphilis. Screening of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses were done by chemillumiencies and syphilis was screened by RPR method. Results: A total of 39780 voluntary blood donors were screened, of which 38697 were males and 1083 were females. Seropositivity of HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C viruses & syphilis were 0.26%, 1.28%, 0.51% and 0.03% respectively. No blood donors test showed positivity for malaria parasite. Conclusion: With the implementation of strict donor selection criteria and use of sensitive screening test, it may be possible to reduce the incidence of TTIs

Assessment of Spatio-Temporal Variability of Total Columnar Ozone Over Jammu and Srinagar, India

Total Columnar Ozone (TCO) is an important factor for air quality studies. This paper presents the trend analysis of TCO over the regions of Jammu and Srinagar. TCO datasets from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) sensor spanning from 2003 to 2022 have been used to ascertain trends in TCO without eliminating the seasonal discrepancies, quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), solar cycle impacts and ENSO factors. Long term trends obtained with the TCO time series indicate a decline in ozone concentration by -0.03 DU/year over Jammu, while no statistically significant trend is observed over Srinagar.  Although there is a natural variation in ozone levels with changing seasons, trend analysis suggests a higher level of TCO concentrations in the winter and the pre-monsoon season as compared to the succeeding periods. The variability of TCO with respect to the meteorological parameters establishes an inverse correlation with the temperature. Thus, contributing to understanding the intricate interplay of factors influencing TCO variations, making a significant stride in understanding atmospheric dynamics

HPLC-UV Quantitative Analysis of Acrylamide in Snack Foods of India

An investigation was carried out to determine acrylamide content in 51 popular snacks food of India by using High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) Instrument with UV detection method. The method entails acetone extraction of acrylamide, clean up by solid extraction cartridges, isocratic elution with mobile phase of HPLC grade water, acetonitrile and formic acid followed by detection at 210 nm. The limit of detection and the limit of quantification for this method were 5.12 and 17.08 μg/kg, respectively. The mean recoveries of acrylamide obtained by using spiked samples ranged from 91 per cent to 101.33 per cent. Acrylamide concentrations in the five groups of snacks ranged from 788.99 - 4191.82 μg/ for extruded and deep fat fried snack, 372 to 6391μg/ kg for deep fat fried food, 435-3147μg/kg for baked food, 434-1307 μg/kg for breakfast cereal and 471-1520 μg/kg for other snacks. Among the food products, snack foods purchased from unorganised sector showed highest concentration of acrylamide

Significance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) viremia in anti-HCV antibody (IgG) positive subjects

Introduction: Hepatitis C is one of the most common bloodborne diseases causing significant morbidity and mortality globally. Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the correlation between 3rd generation ELISA positives for anti-HCV antibodies with real time PCR, among various categories of patients attending KIMS hospital. Methods: This is a hospital based retrospective study at KIMS hospital, Secunderabad, India conducted between August 2013 and July 2015. From laboratory data, 115 patients, found to be anti-HCV antibody positive (done by CLIA method) were included in the study. Real-Time Reverse Transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) was done for these patient samples subsequently. Results: Among a total of 115 anti-HCV antibody positive cases, 70(60.86%) were positive and 45(39.13%) were negative by HCV RNA PCR. Conclusion: ELISA assays have many advantages in diagnostic settings including ease of automation, ease of use, relative cost effectiveness and low variability. Additional or confirmatory testing like RT-PCR is often helpful. The HCV RNA test is still regarded as a standard in the detection of active infection and for monitoring treatment

Impurity effects on the critical behaviour of the electrical resistance of binary liquid mixtures

The electrical resistance of the binary liquid system cyclohexane + acetic anhydride is measured, in the critical region, both in the pure mixture and when the mixture is doped with small amounts (≈ 100 ppm) of H2O/D2O impurities. Tc was approached to about t = 3×10-6 where t = (T -Tc)/Tc . The critical exponent b ≈ 0·35 in the fit of the resistance data to the equation dR/dT~t-b does not seem to be affected appreciably by the impurities. There is a sign reversal of dR/dt in the non-critical region. Binary liquid systems seem to violate the universality of the critical resistivity