A prospective observational study on the efficacy of procalcitonin as a diagnostic test to exclude lower urinary tract infection and to minimize antibiotic overuse

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) stands out as the third-most common infection following gastrointestinal and respiratory tract infections. Over the past decade, the biomarker procalcitonin (PCT) has gained prominence to facilitate the detection of bacterial infections and reduce excessive antibiotic exposure. Objective: The objective of this study was to mitigate the overuse of antibiotics, by promoting the noninitiation or early discontinuation of empirical antibiotics, which would significantly help minimize the proliferation of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Methodology: A prospective observational study was carried out at the tertiary care center in the Department of General Medicine of Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, involving 200 patients with symptoms of lower UTI such as increased frequency, urgency, burning micturition, retention, and suprapubic tenderness with or without positive urinalysis. Detailed demographic profiles along with symptoms at the time of admission were recorded in a pretested structured format. To determine a positive diagnosis of UTI, signs and symptoms of UTI with or without urinary cultures were tested. The PCT level was estimated using enhanced chemiluminescence technique. Other routine tests such as complete blood count, renal function test, liver function test, urine routine microscopy, culture, chest X-ray, and ultrasonography abdomen pelvis were done and recorded. All patients, who had an initial serum PCT level of 0.5 ng/mL, were initiated with antibiotics as per the culture and sensitivity reports. Patients were followed up for improvement in symptoms with reports of repeated urinalysis. Results: Our study reported the fact that 9.5% of the patients with initial serum PCT ≥ 0.5 ng/mL showed no improvement in symptoms despite starting antibiotics while significantly higher number of symptomatic patients (60%) with initial serum PCT < 0.5 ng/ml showed improvement in symptoms with conservative treatment without antibiotics. Conclusion: A lower PCT level rules out bacterial invasion and thus can be used as a novel marker in antibiotic stewardship

A potential roadmap on the development, application, and loopholes of metal-organic frameworks in high-performance third-generation solar cells

The third-generation solar cells have found incremental utilization over their last two-generation counterparts for their increased environmental friendliness, facile fabrication, relatively high efficiency, and low cost in commercialization. A coordinated porosity and a high surface area mark Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) as an exciting candidate for study in solar cell fabrication. This review article aims to assemble the various MOF structures for developing high-performance solar cell studies. To be understood, MOF was not designed as a single material but has always enhanced efficiency as guest materials or secondary support structures. Pristine MOFs have been studied extensively as photoanodes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC). However, given their intrinsically insulating nature and dull charge transport mechanism, they limit cell performance and efficiency. The constrained conductivity also limits their replacement as counter electrodes, which require a cheaper and more stable electrocatalyst than platinum. It has been found to provide extra crystallinity to the perovskite layer for Perovskite Solar Cells (PSC), further enhancing device performance and stability. The article presents a detailed report on developing MOF-derived materials for DSSC and PSC components. MOFs with excellent light-harvesting capacity and photosensitizing linkers have also been a curious case of study. Moreover, the crystal framework of MOFs can be designed efficiently, which helps solar cell component fabrication in fine-tuning its properties. Although fabrication from MOFs is still in the primitive stage, this paper provides knowledge in the field of both photovoltaics, and MOF diversification, understands the studies that have already been reported regarding the performance and stability, the enhancement in their properties, and loopholes that remain to be understood and nullified

Ferromagnetic Ni1-xVxO1-y Nano-Clusters for NO Detection at Room Temperature: A Case of Magnetic Field-Induced Chemiresistive

Surface modulation of functional nanostructures is an efficient way of improving gas sensing properties in chemiresistive materials. However, synthesis methods employed so far in achieving desired performances are cumbersome and energy intensive. Moreover, nano-engineering-induced magnetic properties of these materials which are expected to enhance sensing responses have not been utilized until now in improving their interaction with target gases. In particular for gasses with paramagnetic nature such as NO or NO2, the inherent magnetic property of the chemiresistor might assist in enabling superior sensing performance. In this work, vanadium-doped NiO nano-clusters with ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature have been synthesized by a simple and effective combination of soft chemical routes and employed in efficient and selective detection of paramagnetic NO gas. While NiO is typically anti-ferromagnetic, the nanoscale engineering of NiO-and V-doped NiO samples have been found to tune the inherent anti-ferromagnetic behavior into room-temperature ferromagnetism. Surface modification in terms of formation of nano-clusters led to an increased Brunauer- Emmett-Teller surface area of similar to 120 m2/g. The sample Ni0.636V0.364O has been observed to exhibit a selective and high response of similar to 98% to 1 ppm NO at room temperature with fast response (14 s) and recovery (95 s). The improved sensing response of this sample compared to other doped NiO variants could be explained in terms of lower remnant magnetic moment of the sample accompanied with higher excess negative charge at the surface. The sensing response of this sample was increased by 30% in the presence of an external magnetic field of 280 gauss, highlighting the importance of magnetic ordering in chemiresistive gas sensing between the magnetic sensor material and target analyte. This material stands as a potential gas sensor with excellent NO detection properties

Weight Optimization of Plastic Injection Moulded Electrical Wire Casing Thermoplastic using Hybrid RSM-Tunicate Swarm Algorithm

The need for fire-retardant material for electrical wire covers and cases is increasing as the global population continues to expand at an alarming rate. In addition to having good fire and chemical resistance, CPVC (chlorinated polyvinyl chloride) is widely accessible in a assortment of forms and sizes, comprising rods, sheets, and tubes. Plastic injection moulding (PIM) provides a method that allows for the production of CPVC items at a rapid pace and at a low cost. When these mouldings are lightweight, they may reduce the amount of non-biodegradable materials that are used in their construction. The present research gives an insight into the CPVC material moulding for electrical wire casing elbows using an injection moulding machine, which was previously unexplored. Four plastic injection moulding parameters were considered in order to reduce the weight of the elbow, including injection pressure, mould closing speed, mould pressure, and backpressure. The 27 tests were piloted in line with Response Surface Methodbased Box-Behnken Design, and the factors were optimised using Tunicate Swarm Algorithm, which was recently developed. In the case of the plastic injection-moulded item, the analysis of variance revealed that the most significant parameter in the weight reduction was the material used. It has been determined that mould pressure is the most critical factor impacting the weight of the item when it is manufactured. As a result, the optimum manufacture of injection-moulded CPVC components will be facilitated, resulting in optimised weight while also minimising production time and raw material waste for electrical wire casing

Parametric Appraisal of Electrochemical Machining of AISI 4140 Chromoly steel using Hybrid Taguchi - WASPAS - Sunflower optimization algorithm

Electrochemical machining (ECM) is a significant technique for getting rid of metal that employs anodic dissolution to get complex contours and deep, precise holes, mostly in the components used in automotive or aerospace sectors. To achieve such high surface characteristics, the selection of factors is important. This work deals with the ECM of AISI 4140 Chromoly steel to investigate the surface roughness and material removal rate (MRR) on the machined specimen using a copper tool electrode. Factors like voltage, signal, and feed rate were optimized by hybrid optimization techniques. To acquire optimal factor configurations, the Taguchi-based WASPAS approach was utilised, accompanied by the Sunflower optimisation methodology. ANOVA was then used to determine the component that was the most impactful factor. A confirmation test is used to signify the outcomes of electrochemical machining. It was revealed that feed rate was among the most significantly relevant factors in affecting surface roughness and MRR. Also, all the optimization approaches provided similar predictions and agreed with the results fetched by the previous research

Effect of dopant oxidation states on enhanced low ppm CO sensing by copper doped zinc oxide

Chemiresistive gas sensing by functional ceramics, like semiconductor metal oxides have been so far explained in terms of parameters such as particle size, morphology, temperature, oxygen vacancies, surface charge imbalance and so on. However, the effects of oxidation states of dopants in shaping gas sensing behavior in chemiresistors have been largely ignored. In this work, the role of oxidation states of Cu dopants on improved CO sensing behaviour of ZnO has been categorically analyzed. In this process, a multi-fold enhanced and selective sensing response towards low ppm CO in comparison to pure zinc oxide has been achieved by n-type Cu doped Zinc Oxide. Extensive studies on surface electronic and bulk crystal structures have revealed that relative amount of Cu1+ and Cu2+ is the probable primary cause behind enhanced CO sensing response by Cu doped zinc oxide. Our results thus indicate that by modifying the relative amounts of different oxidation states of dopants, semi-conductor metal oxide systems may be tuned to show improved sensing response towards CO and other gases

Synthesis, characterization, and density functional theory calculation studies of a novel Rb-based lead halide perovskite material

Inorganic lead halide perovskites have appeared as favorable and novel materials for their effective use in photovoltaics. The synthesis route of such materials via the simple wet chemistry technique renders these inorganic halide perovskites the ideal property for light-harvesting materials. Despite these novel properties, the inherently unstable nature under increased heat and ambient moisture conditions is still a conjecture that needs to be addressed. This work shows the wet chemistry method as a synthesis route of the novel RbPbCl3 perovskite using four different solvents for photovoltaic applications. Interestingly, the synthesized perovskite was stable in only one solvent with a band gap of 2.6 eV, whereas the material degraded in the other three. The DFT calculations performed post-geometric optimization revealed well-defined electronic bandgap and optical properties, nearly imitating the experimental data of our synthesized perovskite. The copious properties such as electronic, optical, and formation energy revealed that the perovskite possesses huge charge screening ability, a low recombination rate of electron-hole pairs, board absorption spectrum, and high stability. Henceforth, establishes its suitability for photovoltaic devices. The close fit of the experimental results with our theoretical trend demonstrates the importance of developing a computational strategy to screen for new perovskite materials for photovoltaic cells

Dopant-induced cationic bivalency in hierarchical antimony-doped tin oxide nano-particles for room-temperature SO2 sensing

The modification of simultaneously existing multiple oxidation states in host lattice cations via the introduction of dopants has been reported for NiO- and Co3O4-based gas-sensing materials. However, SnO2, a widely used material for chemiresistive gas sensing has never been reported with simultaneous presence of Sn2+ and Sn4+ states, in both the absence and presence of dopants. In this work, we demonstrated how antimony doping in a 3+ state triggers the generation of cationic bivalency in tin oxide-based gas sensors, and it is the quantitative presence of unstable Sn2+ species that determines the fate of SO2-sensing responses by antimony-doped tin oxide gas sensors. While the Sn2+ content in Sn0.856Sb0.144O2 is 1.2 times less than that of Sn0.957Sb0.043O2, the SO2 sensing response in the former is 1.2 times more than that in the latter. Greater antimony content in Sn0.856Sb0.144O2 also leads to the generation of additional trap states that result in sequential return of electrons back into the valence band. The reversibility of Sn2+ ↔ Sn4+ during SO2 adsorption and desorption brings out a new dimension of SnO2-based chemiresistors besides those already existing

Interdependence of a mechanosensitive anion channel and glutamate receptors in distal wound signaling

Glutamate has dual roles in metabolism and signaling; thus, signaling functions must be isolatable and distinct from metabolic fluctuations, as seen in low-glutamate domains at synapses. In plants, wounding triggers electrical and calcium (Ca2+) signaling, which involve homologs of mammalian glutamate receptors. The hydraulic dispersal and squeeze-cell hypotheses implicate pressure as a key component of systemic signaling. Here, we identify the stretch-activated anion channel MSL10 as necessary for proper wound-induced electrical and Ca2+ signaling. Wound gene induction, genetics, and Ca2+ imaging indicate that MSL10 acts in the same pathway as the glutamate receptor–like proteins (GLRs). Analogous to mammalian NMDA glutamate receptors, GLRs may serve as coincidence detectors gated by the combined requirement for ligand binding and membrane depolarization, here mediated by stretch activation of MSL10. This study provides a molecular genetic basis for a role of mechanical signal perception and the transmission of long-distance electrical and Ca2+ signals in plants