Planar Hall effect in the Weyl semimetal GdPtBi

Observation of Weyl and Dirac Fermions in condensed matter systems is one of the most important discoveries. Among the very few available tools to characterize Weyl semimetals through electrical transport, negative magnetoresistance is most commonly used. Considering shortcomings of this method, new tools to characterize chiral anomaly in Weyl semimetals are desirable. We employ planar Hall effect as an effective technique in half Heusler Weyl semimetal GdPtBi to study chiral anomaly. This compound exhibits a large value of 1.5 mohm cm planar Hall resistivity at 2 K and in 9 T. Our analysis reveals that the observed amplitude is dominated by Berry curvature and chiral anomaly contributions. Through the angle dependent transport studies we establish that GdPtBi with relatively small orbital magnetoresistance is an ideal candidate to observe large planar Hall effect .Comment: Updated text

Large nonlinear absorption and refraction coefficients of carbon nanotubes estimated from femtosecond Z-scan measurements

Nonlinear transmission of 80 and 140 femtosecond pulsed light with $0.79 \mu m$ wavelength through single walled carbon nanotubes suspended in water containing sodium dodecyl sulphate is studied. Pulse-width independent saturation absorption and negative cubic nonlinearity are observed, respectively, in open and closed aperture Z-scan experiments. The theoretical expressions derived to analyze the z-dependent transmission in the saturable limit require two photon absorption coefficient $\beta_0\sim$ $1.4 cm/MW$ and a nonlinear index $\gamma \sim -5.5 \times10^{-11} cm^2/W$ to fit the data.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures. Accepted and to appear in Applied Physics Letter

Role of high sensitive c-reactive protein and serum uric acid in coronary artery diseases: a case control study

Background: Coronary artery diseases (CAD) are considered to be the major public health concerns throughout the world, including India. Despite significant improvement in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention, CAD remains the most common, acute, and chronic illness, which is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the world.Methods: To estimate the serum uric acid and hs-CRP levels in coronary artery disease cases with diabetes mellitus and hypertension and compare with the healthy individuals.Results: The mean serum uric acid levels were raised in cases (6.1±1.54 mg/dl) compared to the controls (5.16±1.007 mg/dl) which was significant statistically (p<0.008). The mean hs-CRP levels were raised in cases (7.1±8.122 mg/dl) compared to the controls (0.185±0.254 mg/dl) which was highly significant statistically.Conclusions: Measurement of the levels of hs-CRP and serum uric acid in CAD might help in identifying the patient at increased risk of mortality

CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON AYURVEDA & CHANGING PARADIGMS

Medical science is advancing by leaps and bounds, exploring the intricacies and unravelling the mysteries of human life. Ever since the dawn of his turbulent history, man has evolved several ways of coping with illness. Every country has developed a medical system presenting a unique configuration designed to be compatible with its future, meeting the needs of its population. Thus the ‘traditional medicine’, which is full of experiences, astute observations and fancy formulae reflecting a combination of inspiration, intuition, information, facts and results, has incarnated.Ayurveda, literally meaning “the science of lifespan”, is the traditional medicine system of India. Its natural healing modality has been in existence for about 5000 years. Ayurveda is widely acknowledged to be the world’s oldest system of healthcare. WHO regards it as “the world’s most ancient, scientific, holistic, complete, natural system of healthcare and is the forerunner of all other great systems practiced today.