Fragmentation of very high energy heavy ions

A stack of CR39 (C12H18O7)n nuclear track detectors with a Cu target was exposed to a 158 A GeV lead ion beam at the CERN-SPS, in order to study the fragmentation properties of lead nuclei. Measurements of the total, break-up and pick-up charge-changing cross sections of ultrarelativistic Pb ions on Cu and CR39 targets are presented and discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 EPS figures included with epsf, uses article.sty Talk presented by M. Giorgini at the Int. Conf. on Structure of the Nucleus at the Dawn of the Century, Bologna (Italy), May 29-June 3, 200

Hematologic and cytogenetic findings in eleven chronic myelogenous leukemia patients treated with imatinib mesylate at a tertiary care hospital

Objective: To evaluate the response of Imatinib mesylate in patients with myeloid leukemia in chronic ,accelerated and blast phase. Methods:Eleven patients with established diagnosis of chronic myeloid leukemia were treatedwith Imatinib mesylate. Adverse events were documented with regular follow ups. Hematological and cytogeneticresponses were assessed according to established criteria. Patients with zero percent Philadelphia positivemetaphases were labeled as complete cytogenetic response while patients with 1% to 35% Philadelphia positive metaphases were termed as partial responders. Results: Of 11 cases there were 7 males and 4 females with a mean age of 39.5 years and median age 51 years(range 21-69). Male to female ratio was 7:4. Median follow-up was 34 weeks (range 8-78). Four patients werein blast crisis, 1 in accelerated phase and remaining six patients were in chronic phase. All patients achieved hematological response. Cytogenetic response was present in six patients, 3 were responders and the remainingwere non responders. Two patients achieved complete cytogenetic response and one patient had partial cytogenetic response. Both patients with complete cytogenetic response relapsed in twelve weeks time. Conclusion: Imatinib mesylate is a drug with curative potential and can be used as a first line drug in the management of CML, however at present the cure rate is unknow

Energy conservation and climate change mitigation potential of improving efficiency of room air conditioners in Pakistan

The present study predicts the energy savings, carbon emissions reduction and economic benefits for Pakistan through energy efficiency improvements for room air conditioners under different policy scenarios. The simulation model assumes that room air conditioner stock will increase from 2.7 million for year 2020 to 4.9 million for year 2030. A market average energy efficiency ratio of 2.95 is assumed for year 2020. The impact of improvement in energy efficiency ratio is analyzed for business as usual and four other different scenarios: continuous improvement (5-years and 2-years cycles) and accelerated improvement (5-years and 2-years cycles). The model dynamically incorporates the retiring of old stock and addition of new stock every year. Our results show that annual national electricity consumption for this sector is projected to increase from 7.3 TWh in 2020 to 12.6 TWh in 2030 under the business as usual scenario. The cumulative energy consumption and carbon emissions are 103.5 TWh and 63.1 MtCO 2. However, implementing energy efficiency policies can result in electricity savings of 11.6 TWh over the ten years or savings nearly 7 million barrels of oil import. Policy recommendations aimed at promoting energy labeling, minimum energy performance standards, regulatory policies, and further country-specific studies for variety of appliances are provided. © 2022 The Author(s

Molecular Docking of Known Carcinogen 4- (Methyl-nitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) with Cyclin Dependent Kinases towards Its Potential Role in Cell Cycle Perturbation

Cell cycle is maintained almost all the times and is controlled by various regulatory proteins and their complexes (Cdk+Cyclin) in different phases of interphase (G1, S and G2) and mitosis of cell cycle. A number of mechanisms have been proposed for the initiation and progression of carcinogenesis by abruption in cell cycle process. One of the important features of cancer/carcinogenesis is functional loss of these cell cycle regulatory proteins particularly in CDKs and cyclins. We hypothesize that there is a direct involvement of these cell cycle regulatory proteins not only at the genetic level but also proteins level, during the initiation of carcinogenesis. Therefore, it becomes significant to determine inconsistency in the functioning of regulatory proteins due to interaction with carcinogen 4-(Methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK). Hence, we investigated the interaction efficiency of NNK, against cell cycle regulatory proteins. We found a different value of ΔG (free energy of binding) among the studied proteins ranging between -3.29 to -7.25 kcal/mol was observed. To validate the results, we considered Human Oxy-Hemoglobin at 1.25 Å Resolution, [PDB_ID:1HHO] as a +ve control, (binding energy -6.06 kcal/mol). Finally, the CDK8 (PDB_ID:3RGF) and CDK2 (PDB_ID:3DDP) regulatory proteins showing significantly strong molecular interaction with NNK -7.25 kcal/mol, -6.19 kcal/mol respectively were analyzed in details. In this study we predicted that CDK8 protein fails to form functional complex with its complementary partner cyclin C in presence of NNK. Consequently, inconsistency of functioning in regulatory proteins might lead to the abruption in cell cycle progression; contribute to the loss of cell cycle control and subsequently increasing the possibility of carcinogenesis

Coherent control of the Goos-Hanchen shift

Journals published by the American Physical Society can be found at http://publish.aps.org/The behavior of the Goos-Hanchen (GH) shifts in the reflected and transmitted light beam which is incident on a cavity containing an intracavity medium of three-level or four-level atoms with electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is discussed. We report a coherent control of the GH shift in a fixed configuration or device via superluminal and subluminal wave propagation. For superluminal wave propagation, we observe negative GH shifts in the reflected part of the incident light whereas the shifts are positive in the transmitted light beam. This corresponds to the negative group index of the cavity in the former case and positive group index of the cavity in the latter. For subluminal wave propagation, the behavior of the GH shifts in the reflected light changes and positive shifts appearhowever, the GH shifts in the transmitted light remains positive. The corresponding group index of the cavity is positive in both cases

Unexplained recurrent hematuria and clot retention following transurethral resection of the prostate

Severe hemorrhage following a prostatectomy is a rare and serious complication. A 60-year-old male with recurrent hematuria and clot retention following transurethral resection of the prostate  (TURP) which led to anemia presented at our department and was treated with repeated clot evacuation and fulguration and lastly re-resection and fulguration succeed to stop bleeding. At 18 months follow-up, the patient had recovered well. We concluded that re-resection and fulguration on fresh tissue without opening the venous sinusoids should be considered as one of the effective treatment of choice in recurrent hemorrhage following TURP.   

Bianchi Type I Cosmology in Generalized Saez-Ballester Theory via Noether Gauge Symmetry

In this paper, we investigate the generalized Saez-Ballester scalar-tensor theory of gravity via Noether gauge symmetry (NGS) in the background of Bianchi type I cosmological spacetime. We start with the Lagrangian of our model and calculate its gauge symmetries and corresponding invariant quantities. We obtain the potential function for the scalar field in the exponential form. For all the symmetries obtained, we determine the gauge functions corresponding to each gauge symmmetry which include constant and dynamic gauge. We discuss cosmological implications of our model and show that it is compatible with the observational data.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in 'European Physical Journal C

Evaluation of Silicon Supplementation for Drought Stress under Water-Deficit Conditions: An Application of Sustainable Agriculture

Drought is a key abiotic stress that confines agriculture development worldwide. Silicon (Si) is commonly considered to be a valuable element for resistance against drought and for sustainable agriculture. To investigate the morpho-physiological and biochemical characteristics of Gerbera jamesonii plants, a pot experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions and exposed to water stress (60% FC) and well-watered (100% FC) conditions. Foliar application of Si was carried out after ten days (48 days after sowing) of drought treatment and was repeated weekly, while well-water was regarded as control. Water deficiency significantly abridged the morphological attributes, pigments, and stress-related metabolites and negatively affected the photosynthetic apparatus in drought-stressed gerbera plants. However, Si supplementation by 40 mg L-1 produced increased leaf area (31%), stem length (25%), flower diameter (22%), plant fresh biomass (17%), total chlorophyll (48%), and concentration of carotenoids (54%) in water-stressed plants. Similarly, the accretion of a total free amino acid (41%) and the activities of peroxidase, catalase, superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, glycinebetaine, total soluble proteins, total free proline, and malondialdehyde were enhanced by 44%, 31%, 53%, 33%, 330%, 61%, 51%, and 66%, respectively, under drought stress in comparison with control conditions. Meanwhile, the photosynthetic rate (89%), the transpiration rate (12%), and stomatal conductance (55%) were significantly enhanced in water-deficit gerbera leaves with Si supplementation. This study proposes that the foliar application of Si is a viable and convenient method of improving the performance of elegant gerbera flower plants in regions of the world that are facing severe water deficiency