Comparative adsorption studies on clay soils

An investigation has been made to study clay as sorbent in the treatment of the hazardous contaminants of potential sludge leachate emanating from industrial landfills. Experimentally was studied six highly toxic and hazardous chemicals, which include: phenol, aniline, cyclohexanol, cyclohexanone, cresol and monochlorophenol. Vermiculate, Kaolinite, Attacote and Hectorite clays were studied as the sorbent material. Removal of organic pollutants were measured using a total organic carbon analyzer (TOC). Results indicate that these clays can be used for some treatment of the above mentioned organic compounds. The study shows that removal of organic pollutants by clay depends on several factors, such as pH characteristics, washing procedures, residual carbon content of the clay, polarity and solubility of the compounds, and contact time. In demonstrating utilization of clay material to treat organic pollutants, this study has indicated a treatment technology which may have some potential

Vitis vinifera (Vitales: Vitaceae) as a Reproductive Host of Spissistilus festinus (Hemiptera: Membracidae).

Feeding by the three-cornered alfalfa hopper, Spissistilus festinus (Say) (Hemiptera: Membracidae) results in girdling of grapevine petioles and shoots. Its significance as an economic pest of grape has increased since it was shown to transmit Grapevine red blotch virus (GRBV) in a greenhouse study. However, the status of grapevines as a reproductive host for S. festinus remained undetermined. Adult S. festinus were caged onto three regions of the grapevines: apical shoot, green shoot, and dormant cane. Their ability to reproduce was determined by weekly destructive sampling for 7 wk. Successful oviposition and nymphal emergence were observed on apical and green shoots, but not on dormant canes. However, insect development beyond the second nymphal instar did not occur. Knowledge of S. festinus reproduction on grapevines will be an important consideration in designing management guidelines to minimize the spread of GRBV in vineyards

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, linear dose, crossover study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a green coffee bean extract in overweight subjects

Abstract Backgroun

Maternal grandmothers with advanced age reproduction are more likely to have Down syndrome grandchildren

Down syndrome (DS), trisomy 21, is the most common chromosomal syndrome that affects one in 600-800 live births. The advanced maternal age is the only well known risk factor to cause DS. Our study revealed that many young mothers produced DS children than advanced age mothers in India. A total of 150 suspected DS cases were investigated cytogenetically. Randomly selected 200 healthy families in South India were used as controls. Logistic regression was performed on case-control dataset which was generated by randomly selecting the child from each of the control families. Pedigree analyses indicated that the maternal grandmothers had advanced age during conception of their daughters who gave birth to DS child. Case-control status was used as dependent variable, whereas parental and grandparental age was used as covariates. Logistic regression was reported as odds ratios, univariate and multivariate. The age of maternal grandmother showed highly significant difference in odds ratio, indicating that the advanced age of maternal grandmother was the possible risk factor.  Therefore, it is important to sort-out the effect of advanced age mothers vs grandmothers on increased frequency of DS reported in different populations

Atypical presentation of Niemann-Pick disease

Niemann-Pick (NP) disease is a distinct disorder with specific clinical and morphological manifestations. We report a 2-year-oldgirl who presented with normal development, acute onset of pallor, lethargy, and massive splenomegaly, which made us to think ofhemolytic anemia as the initial diagnosis. Her bone marrow done, after initial hematological work up being normal, showed NP cells.As the child did not have any neurological abnormality, she was diagnosed as NP Type B (NPD-B) storage disease. We report it as atypical presentation of NPD-B

Inheritance patterns, consanguinity & risk for asthma

Background & Objectives: Family history is an important risk factor for the development of asthma, contingent upon genetic and environment interaction. Since there is paucity of data on asthma inheritance in Indian population, the present study was undertaken to investigate the inheritance patterns of asthma and the effect of family history and consanguineous marriage on asthma inheritance. Methods: A total of 200 families, 100 index children and 100 index adults with clinically diagnosed asthma, along with 400 non-asthmatic children and adults as controls were selected for the present study. Information about the family history of each patients and controls was collected and analyzed pedigrees were also constructed. Results: A history of asthma in any member of the family was observed in 44.5 per cent of cases and 5.3 per cent of controls (P<0.001). A differential risk of developing asthma was noted in family history of asthma in different first and second degree relatives of children and adult patients. Consanguineous marriage was also noted in parents in 24.5 per cent of cases and 12.3 per cent of controls (P<0.001). The most common mode of asthma inheritance was recessive. Interpretation & Conclusions: Our results showed that consanguineous marriage and family history of asthma are important determinants in the development of asthma in the offspring

Four-Dimensional Constellations for Dual-Polarized Satellite Communications

Abstract-In this paper, we investigate the performance of constellations optimized for transmissions in dual-polar mobile satellite applications. These four-dimensional constellations (inphase and quadrature per polarization) are designed for joint transmission over the two polarizations. Such constellations enhance the reliability of the system by providing certain redundancy into their design. Their performance is compared with transmission of independent 2D constellations over each polarization. As performance metrics, the pragmatic achievable mutual information and the bit error rate have been considered. The gains serve to indicate the need to further investigate 4D constellation design and its application in dual-polar MIMO systems