Improved Microwave Absorption of E- Glass Epoxy Composites by Conducting Polymer Coated Carbon Nano-tubes

Enhanced microwave absor bing properties have been achieved using E-glass-epoxy composites by integrating them with conducting polymers (CPs), namely poly(pyrrole)(PPY), poly(aniline)(PANI), poly (ethylene dioxythiophene)(PEDOT) and Multiwalled carbon nanotubes coated by CPs. In order to obtain CP coating on MWCNTs, in-situ polymerization of pyrrole, EDOT and aniline was carried out by using dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (structure directing agent), ferric chloride (oxidant) and MWCNTs (template). The formation of CP coating on MWCNTs was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) studies. Different weight % of CP and CP coated MWCNTs were added to the epoxy resin as nano-reinforcement and the entire mixture was used as a matrix to prepare the 2D laminated E-glass-epoxy composites by hand layup method. Microwave absorbing properties of the prepared E-glass-epoxy composites were analyzed using Wave guide measurement. Initial results showed that CP coated MWCNTs, at 0.5wt% addition to epoxy imparted highest microwave absorbing properties in terms of permittivity and reflection loss for E-glass-epoxy composites. CP coated MWCNTs-E-glass-epoxy composites exhibits microwave absorption is mainly due to the dielectric loss of the microwave field in the composites

Pregnancy with thalassemia: challenges and outcomes

Background: Thalassemia syndromes are autosomal recessive disorders and the most commonly inherited haemoglobinopathies in the world. HbE β is the most common type of thalassemia in eastern India. The objectives of the study include maternal outcome and complications like anemia, hypertensive disorders, gestational diabetes mellitus and also to study the neonatal outcome in terms of low birth weight, prematurity and other complications.Methods: A prospective longitudinal study carried out over a period of one year from July 2016 to June 2017 in Medical College, Kolkata. Fifty antenatal thalassemic mothers over 20 weeks of gestation during study period were enrolled in after institutional ethical clearance and consent from study subjects. All necessary investigations (complete haemogram, reticulocyte counts, Ultrasounds etc.) were done followed by statistical analysis.Results: Out of total 50 diagnosed thalassemic patients, maximum were HbE Beta Thal i.e. 54.0%. The mean level of iron in these women varied from 95.70±17.16µg/dl to 99.46±18.19µg/dl at the time of delivery and ferritin varied from 185.40±49.26µg/L vs 194.13±48.80µg/L. The mean blood transfusion done was 6.84 Units. Incidence of maternal complications were variable, PIH was found to be 26% whereas it was just 8% for GDM. The mean gestational age at delivery (Mean±SD) was 36.30±2.08 weeks. NICU admission was high (50%).Conclusions: Pregnancy with thalassemia is considered high risk, continuous pre-conceptional, antenatal and postpartum assessment should be done for favorable outcomes

Mental stress in infertility: a tertiary care hospital-based study

Background: Most of the couples suffering from infertility report it to be the most stressful and depressing period of their life, more so if it is a primary infertility. Studies regarding the prevalence and role of infertility-specific stress especially in eastern part of India is very limited. The objective of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of infertility-specific stress and its role in marital adjustment in women diagnosed with infertility.Methods: It was a cross-sectional study done on 80 married couple diagnosed with infertility (both primary and secondary) over 1 year from July 2016 to June,2017. Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), "semi-structured questionnaire" compiled by the authors and "ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders (Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines)" were used for the evaluation. The analysis was done using SPSS (version 16) and Chi-square test.Results: Around 86% infertile women and 21% infertile men were found to suffer from mental stress. Infertility related stress were more in patients with primary infertility than in secondary one. Women mostly (56.5%) coped with stress by self-blaming whereas men (58.2%) by blaming the partner.Conclusions: Mental stress was significantly associated with infertility. In fact, maladjustment in marital relation caused by the stress adversely affected the conjugal life and thus also the fertility. Proper counselling of both partners might be helpful to solve this problem

An Approach for Design Search Engine Architecture for Document Summarization

Query focused multi document summarization is an emerging area of research. A lot of work has already been done on the subject and a lot more is going on. The following document outlines the effort done by us in this particular field. This work proposes an approach to address automatic Multi Document text summarization in response to a query given by a user. For the explosion of information in the World Wide Web, this work proposed a new method of query-focused multi-documents summarization using genetic algorithm, search engine are used to extract relevant documents and genetic algorithm is used to extract the sentences to form a summary, and it is based on a fitness function formed by three factors: query-focused feature, importance feature, and non-redundancy feature. Experimental result shows that the proposed summarization method can improve the performance of summary, genetic algorithm is efficient. We have developed a very powerful search engine one. On the same note, it also has a great potential for growth. It can be easily applied for systems with not only a few documents but for very large systems with a large number of documents

Copper Doping in II–VI Semiconductor Nanocrystals: Single-Particle Fluorescence Study

Copper doping in II–VI semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) has sparked enormous debate regarding the oxidation state of Cu ions and their hugely differing consequences in optoelectronic applications. The identity of a magnetically active Cu$^{2+}$ ion or a magnetically inactive d$^{10}$ Cu$^+$ ion has generally been probed using optical techniques, and confusion arises from the spatial clutter that is part of the technique. One major probe that could declutter the data obtained from ensemble emission is single-particle fluorescence spectroscopy. In this work, using this very technique along with X-ray absorption spectroscopy probing the local environment of dopant ions, we study Cu-doped II–VI semiconductor NCs to find conclusive evidence on the oxidation state of Cu dopants and hence the mechanism of their emission. Detailed analysis of blinking properties has been used to study the single-particle nature of the NCs

Molecular characterization of substrate-induced ubiquitin transfer by UBR7-PHD finger, a newly identified histone H2BK120 ubiquitin ligase

Monoubiquitination of histone H2B at lysine 120 plays a vital role in active transcription and DNA damage response pathways. Ubiquitin protein ligase E3 component N-recognin 7 (UBR7) has been recently identified as an H2BK120 monoubiquitin ligase. However, the molecular details of its ubiquitin transfer mechanism are not well understood. Here, we report that the plant homeodomain (PHD) finger of UBR7 is essential for its association with E2 UbcH6 and consequent ubiquitin transfer to its substrate histone H2B. We also identified the critical region of UbcH6 involved in this function and shown that the residues stretching from 114 to 125 of histone H2B C-terminal tail are sufficient for UBR7/UbcH6-mediated ubiquitin transfer. We also employed antibody-independent mass spectrometry to confirm UBR7-mediated ubiquitination of the H2B C-terminal tail. We demonstrated that the PHD finger of UBR7 forms a dimer and this dimerization is essential for ubiquitination of histone H2B. We mapped the critical residues involved in the dimerization and mutation of these residues that abrogate E3 ligase activity and are associated with cancer. Furthermore, we compared the mode of ubiquitin discharge from UbcH6 mediated by UBR7 and RING finger protein 20 (RNF20) through a thioester hydrolysis assay. Interestingly, binding of substrate H2B to UBR7 induces a conformational change in the PHD finger, which triggers ubiquitin transfer from UbcH6. However, the RNF20 RING finger alone is sufficient to promote the release of ubiquitin from UbcH6. Overall, the mechanism of ubiquitin transfer by the newly identified E3 ubiquitin ligase UBR7 is markedly different from that of RNF20

Pregnancy with thalassemia: challenges and outcomes

Background: Thalassemia syndromes are autosomal recessive disorders and the most commonly inherited haemoglobinopathies in the world. HbE β is the most common type of thalassemia in eastern India. The objectives of the study include maternal outcome and complications like anemia, hypertensive disorders, gestational diabetes mellitus and also to study the neonatal outcome in terms of low birth weight, prematurity and other complications.Methods: A prospective longitudinal study carried out over a period of one year from July 2016 to June 2017 in Medical College, Kolkata. Fifty antenatal thalassemic mothers over 20 weeks of gestation during study period were enrolled in after institutional ethical clearance and consent from study subjects. All necessary investigations (complete haemogram, reticulocyte counts, Ultrasounds etc.) were done followed by statistical analysis.Results: Out of total 50 diagnosed thalassemic patients, maximum were HbE Beta Thal i.e. 54.0%. The mean level of iron in these women varied from 95.70±17.16µg/dl to 99.46±18.19µg/dl at the time of delivery and ferritin varied from 185.40±49.26µg/L vs 194.13±48.80µg/L. The mean blood transfusion done was 6.84 Units. Incidence of maternal complications were variable, PIH was found to be 26% whereas it was just 8% for GDM. The mean gestational age at delivery (Mean±SD) was 36.30±2.08 weeks. NICU admission was high (50%).Conclusions: Pregnancy with thalassemia is considered high risk, continuous pre-conceptional, antenatal and postpartum assessment should be done for favorable outcomes

Deciphering genetic regulation of CD14 by SP1 through characterization of peripheral blood mononuclear transcriptome of P. faiciparum and P. vivax infected malaria patientsResearch in context section

Background: Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax are two major parasites responsible for malaria which remains a threat to almost 50% of world's population despite decade-long eradication program. One possible reason behind this conundrum is that the bases of clinical variability in malaria caused by either species are complex and poorly understood. Methods: Whole-genome transcriptome was analyzed to identify the active and predominant pathways in the PBMC of P. falciparum and P. vivax infected malaria patients. Deregulated genes were identified and annotated using R Bioconductor and DAVID/KEGG respectively. Genetic and functional regulation of CD14, a prioritized candidate, were established by quantitative RT-PCR, genotyping using RFLP and resequencing, mapping of transcription factor binding using CONSITE and TFBIND, dual luciferase assay, western blot analysis, RNAi- mediated gene knockdown and chromatin-immunoprecipation. Findings: The study highlighted that deregulation of host immune and inflammatory genes particularly CD14 as a key event in P. falciparum malaria. An abundance of allele-C of rs5744454, located in CD14 promoter, in severe malaria motivated us to establish an allele-specific regulation of CD14 by SP1. An enhancement of SP1 and CD14 expression was observed in artemisinin treated human monocyte cell line. Interpretation: Our data not only reinstates that CD14 of TLR pathway plays a predominant role in P. falciparum malaria, it establishes a functional basis for genetic association of rs5744454 with P. falciparum severe malaria by demonstrating a cis-regulatory role of this promoter polymorphism. Moreover, the study points towards a novel pharmacogenetic aspect of artemisinin-based anti-malarial therapy. Fund: DST-SERB, Govt. of India, SR/SO/HS-0056/2013. Keywords: Malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, Transcriptome, CD14, SP1, Host Polymorphis

Arsenic in groundwater ofWest Bengal, India: A review of human health risks and assessment of possible intervention options

This paper reviews howactive research inWest Bengal has unmasked the endemic arsenismthat has detrimental effects on the health of millions of people and their offspring. It documents howthe pathways of exposure to this toxin/poison have been greatly expanded through intensive application of groundwater in agriculture in the regionwithin the Green Revolution framework. A goal of this paper is to compare and contrast the similarities and differences in arsenic occurrence in West Bengal with those of other parts of the world and assess the unique socio-cultural factors that determine the risks of exposure to arsenic in local groundwater. Successful intervention options are also critically reviewedwithemphasis on integrative strategies that ensure safewater to the population, proper nutrition, and effective ways to reduce the transfer of arsenic from soil to crops. While no universal model may be suited for the vast areas of the world affected with by natural contamination of groundwater with arsenic, we have emphasized community-specific sustainable options that can be adapted. Disseminating scientifically correct information among the population coupled with increased community level participation and education are recognized as necessary adjuncts for an engineering intervention to be successful and sustainable