Confinement creates a 9 GPa ambience: emergence of cristobalite phases in a silica film

We present here the results of the x-ray fluorescence (XRF), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Energy Dispersive Analysis of x-rays (EDAX), x-ray Reflectivity (XRR), Secondary Ion Mass spectroscopy (SIMS) and x-ray Diffraction (XRD) studies of silica films spin-coated from a Tetraethyl Orthosilicate (TEOS) precursor on native and hydrophilized Al substrates. It is observed that the substrates are mainly porous (porosity similar to 33%) AlO(OH), there is a diffuse interlayer of highly porous (porosity similar to 90%) AlO(OH), essentially a modification of the substrate, and a top layer of silica composed of nanocrystals with in-plane dimensions of 100-300 nm and thickness of 2.5 nm with a sharply defined silica-hydrated alumina interface. The silica nanocrystals were found in the metastable high pressure cristobalite phases with the tetragonal or alpha-phase co-existing in its low (0.77 GPa) and high (9 GPa) pressure structures. This indicates a high normal stress developed from the confinement and provides a basis for the quantitative assessment of the confinement force, which comes out to be higher in value than the van der Waals force but weaker than the Hydrogen bonding force

Bacteriological quality of water and diarrhoea among ethnic and non-ethnic communities of rural area of West Tripura, India

Background: Waterborne diseases are the major causes of health seeking by ethnic and non-ethnic communities of West Tripura district of India. Safe and wholesome water is a basic requirement for good health. Microbiological contamination of water is responsible for most of the waterborne diseases and diarrhoea is still a major killer of childhood.Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 177 ethnic and non-ethnic households chosen by multi stage sampling from West Tripura District of North East India during June - July 2016 to assess the bacteriological quality of water and to find out its association with the occurrence of diarrhoea.Results: Among the ethnic and non-ethnic households shallow tube wells were the source for 52.18% and 62.35 %, deep tube wells for 19.56% and 29.41%, and pipe water for 20.65 % and 5.89 households respectively. Sanitary latrines ware used in 46.73% ethnic and 50.59% non-ethnic households. In both the group filtration was practiced by 85% and no purification by 1%. Covered vessels were used for storing water in 94.57% ethnic and 95.30% non-ethnic households. Source of water was mildly contaminated in 15% ethnic and 10% non-ethnic, moderate and heavy contaminations were 11% and 8% each respectively in both the groups. At the point of consumption moderate and heavy contaminations were 2% each in ethnic households. Mild and severe contaminations were 3% and 1% respectively in non-ethnic group. Diarrhoea was significantly more frequent among households consuming coliform contaminated water (p<0.05).Conclusions: Half of the study population was using insanitary latrine and one fifth were collecting water from contaminated sources. Hence provision of safe water and promotion of sanitary latrine is needed to prevent waterborne diseases in this community

Malabaricone-A Induces A Redox Imbalance That Mediates Apoptosis in U937 Cell Line

BACKGROUND: The 'two-faced' character of reactive oxygen species (ROS) plays an important role in cancer biology by acting both as secondary messengers in intracellular signaling cascades and sustaining the oncogenic phenotype of cancer cells, while on the other hand, it triggers an oxidative assault that causes a redox imbalance translating into an apoptotic cell death. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a tetrazolium [{3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl}-2H-tetrazolium] based cell viability assay, we evaluated the cytotoxicity of a plant derived diarylnonanoid, malabaricone-A on leukemic cell lines U937 and MOLT-3. This cytotoxicity hinged on its ability to cause a redox imbalance via its ability to increase ROS, measured by flow cytometry using 5-(and-6)-chloromethyl-2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate and by decreasing glutathione peroxidase activity. This redox imbalance mediated apoptosis was evident by an increase in cytosolic [Ca(2+)], externalization of phosphatidyl serine as also depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential as measured by flow cytometry. There was concomitant peroxidation of cardiolipin, release of free cytochrome c to cytosol along with activation of caspases 9, 8 and 3. This led to cleavage of the DNA repair enzyme, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase that caused DNA damage as proved by labeling with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI); furthermore, terminal deoxy ribonucleotide transferase catalysed incorporation of deoxy uridine triphosphate confirmed DNA nicking and was accompanied by arrest of cell cycle progression. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, compounds like MAL-A having pro-oxidant activity mediate their cytotoxicity in leukemic cells via induction of oxidative stress triggering a caspase dependent apoptosis

Distributed generation &#x2014; basic policy, perspective planning, and achievement so far in India

At the time of independence in 1947 India was having a meager generation of above 1,360 MW, that too in a highly decentralized manner in and around urban areas to meet the load of latter. It followed decades of development in power sector, aiming at optimum utilization of geographically dispersed resources, economy of scale, harnessing of hydro-energy in far-flung areas as well as thermal energy at mine-mouth power stations, development of gas-wells vis-à-vis gas-grid. Net result visible in this context has been formulation of state power grids, then regional grids, and now stepping towards evolution of national grid with transmission voltage going gradually from 132 kV to 800 kV class with intermediate voltages as 220 kV and 400 kV in AC system, while ±500 kV in DC system. In fact already thought process has started for going in favor of 1200 kV AC and ±800 kV DC. Size of thermal units moved up from as low as few MW to 660 MW. Of course side by side nineties saw a sea-change in policy that resulted in investment by private entrepreneurs consequent to unbundling of generation, transmission and distribution as distinct entities. Economy of scale did not remain a constraint. Distribution companies too joined the fray to supplement generation embedded into the system. Co-generation by manufacturers using otherwise waste or by-products and also captive generation, co-operative generation by a number of industries coming together have made it possible to enhance generation substantially. Added to this, in fact much more is picking up in the new and renewable type of generation, particularly wind turbine based ones in coastal areas and also at mid-lands where this natural resource is abundant in different seasons of the year. Today it is accounting for a significant amount of total power generation (about 9%). Technological innovations, marketing through competitive unit pricing at different point of time through power and energy trading are encouraging Distributed Generation to a large extent, requiring of course a good amount of coordination of stake-holders side by side. Government of India policies as well as initiatives in respect of Rural Electrification vis-à-vis Distributed Generation are quite encouraging

Rankings of Economics Journals and Departments in India

This paper is the first attempt to rank economics departments of Indian Institutions based on their research output. Two rankings, one based on publications in international journals, and the other based on publications in domestic journals are derived. The rankings based on publications in international journals are obtained using the impact values of 159 journals found in Kalaitzidakis et al. (2003). Rankings based on publications in domestic journals are based on impact values of 20 journals. Since there are no published studies on ranking of domestic journals, we derived the rankings of domestic journals by using the iterative method suggested in Kalaitzidakis et al. (2003). The department rankings are constructed using two approaches namely, the `flow approach' and the `stock approach'. Under the `flow approach' the rankings are based on the total output produced by a particular department over a period of time while under the `stock approach' the rankings are based on the publication history of existing faculty members in an institution. From these rankings the trend of research work and the growth of the department of a university are studied.Departments,Economics, Journals, Rankings

Rationalization of supramolecular interactions of a newly synthesized binuclear Cu(II) complex derived from 4,4′,6,6′-tetramethyl 2,2′-bipyrimidine ligand through Hirshfeld surface analysis

A new binuclear copper (II) complex [Cu2L2Cl4(H2O)2] (1) derived from 4,4',6,6'-tetramethyl-2,2'-bipyrimidine (L) has been synthesized and characterized by the single crystal X-ray diffraction method. Single crystal analysis of complex 1 reveals that it crystallizes in the space group P21/n under a monoclinic system (β = 97.995(2)°, a = 7.6483(2), b = 7.2158(3) and c = 17.8477(6) Å). The ligand acts as a bis-bidentate one and each copper (II) center bears a square pyramidal geometry exploiting N2Cl2O chromophore. In the solid state, the complex is stabilized through classical O-H···Cl intermolecular hydrogen bonding incorporating coordinated water (as a solvent) and chloride ions and lone pair···π interactions. The Hirshfeld surface analysis demonstrates H···H/H···H, H···Cl/Cl···H, H···C/C···H, and C···Cl/Cl···C intermolecular interactions as the major contributor interactions in the solid-state packing of the molecular crystal. Interaction energy calculations carried out employing the wavefunction generated via B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) highlight the dominance of electrostatic energy and the contribution of polarization and dispersion energy towards the total energy of complex 1 in the solid state

Kinetic study of oxidation of nitrite with a metallo superoxide

949-953Bridging superoxide in [(en)(dien)CoIII(O2)CoIII(en)(dien)]5+ quantitatively oxidizes N(III) to N(V), itself being reduced to hydroperoxo group. Kinetic study and solvent isotope effect indicate two parallel paths: (a) electron transfer and (b) proton coupled electron transfer. The present study also indicates that the ancillary ligands affect the reaction rate substantially. Studies on redox behavior of metal bound superoxide are not many and this study is expected to shed some light on the redox nature of metal bound superoxide.<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> </span

Sphenochoanal Polyp - "The Forgotten Element?"

Introduction The occurrence of isolated spheno-choanal polyps are not very common and can be very well confused with antro-choanal polyps or adenoids in adolescents and children. Appropriate diagnosis and prompt surgical intervention are essential for its removal.   Case Report We report one such case of a 16 year old female who presented with complaints nasal obstruction and reduced hearing. Endoscopic polypectomy was done with complete removal of the polyp.   Discussion Sphenochoanal Polyp is often misdiagnosed and proper investigations are thus essential for its diagnosis. Surgical Approach is the mainstay form of treatment with complete excision of the polyp

Rare Cases in ENT

In our day to day ENT practice we commonly come across diseases involving the larynx, the oral cavity and the paranasal sinuses. These range from inflammatory disorders to benign and malignant neoplasms. Carcinomas involving the head and neck region are most commonly squamous cell carcinoma. However, a small proportion of cases present with other variants of carcinoma or infective pathology uncommon for the site. In this study we present three rare cases encountered in the out-patient department, namely, Primary Malignant Melanoma of the larynx, Neuroendocrine Tumor of the nose and paranasal sinuses and Rhinosporidiosis of cheek