Osmo-air drying of aloe vera gel cubes

Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis Miller) cubes of 12.5 × 12.5 × 12.5 mm thick were osmosed for 4 h in sugar syrup of 30, 40 and 50°Brix concentration and temperatures of 30 and 50°C at constant syrup to fruit ratio of 5:1. Osmosed and unosmosed aloe vera samples were hot air dried at 50, 60, 70 and 80°C with constant air velocity of 1.5 m/s. The water loss, solid gain and convective drying behaviour were recorded during experiments. It was observed that water loss and solid gain ranged from 39.2 to 71.3 and 2.7 to 6.3%, respectively during osmo-drying. The moisture diffusivity varied from 2.9 to 8.0 × 10−9 m²/s and 2.7 to 4.6 × 10−9 m²/s during air drying of osmosed and unosmosed aloe vera samples, respectively. Drying air temperature and osmosis as pre-treatment affected the water loss, solid gain, diffusivity at −p ≤ 0.0

Metastatic melanoma in an esophagus demonstrating Barrett esophagus with high grade dysplasia

BACKGROUND: Metastatic melanoma involving the esophagus is rare; the occurrence of metastatic melanoma in a background of Barrett esophagus is rarer still. We report a case of an 80 year-old male who presented to our institution for workup of Barrett esophagus with high-grade dysplasia and who proved to have metastatic melanoma occurring in the background of Barrett esophagus, the first report of this kind, to our knowledge, in the English literature. CASE PRESENTATION: An 80 year-old Caucasian male was diagnosed at an outside institution with Barrett’s esophagus with high grade dysplasia and presented to our institution for therapy. The patient underwent endoscopic mucosal resection using a band ligation technique of an area of nodularity within the Barrett esophagus. Microscopic examination demonstrated extensive Barrett esophagus with high-grade dysplasia as well as a second tumor which was morphologically different from the surrounding high-grade dysplasia and which was positive for S-100, HMB 45 and Melan-A on immunohistochemistry, consistent with melanoma. Further workup of the patient demonstrated multiple radiologic lesions consistent with metastases. Molecular studies demonstrated that the melanoma was positive for the 1799T>A (V600E) mutation in the BRAF gene. The overall features of the tumor were most consistent with metastatic melanoma occurring in a background of Barrett esophagus with high-grade dysplasia. CONCLUSION: This case demonstrates a unique intersection between a premalignant condition (Barrett esophagus with high grade dysplasia) and a separate malignancy (melanoma). This report also shows the utility of molecular testing to support the hypothesis of primary versus metastatic disease in melanoma

Risk factors for myocardial infarction among low socioeconomic status South Indian population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>As longevity increases, cases of myocardial infarction (MI) are likely to be more. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major global health problem reaching epidemic proportions in the Indian subcontinent, also among low socio-economic status (SES) and thin individuals.</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>The present study was undertaken to elicit risk factors for MI among low SES Southern Indians and to find out its association with body mass index (BMI).</p> <p>Materials and methods</p> <p>A case-control study of patients with MI matched against healthy control subjects was carried out in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Standard methods were followed to elicit risk factors and BMI. Chi-square and Fishers exact test for categorical versus categorical, to show relationship with risk factors were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 949 patients (male (M) = 692 and post menopausal female (F) = 257) and 611 age and sex matched healthy controls were included. In our study, BMI was below 23 in 48.2% of patients and below 21 in 22.5%. The risk of developing MI was significantly more in males (odds ratio (OR) = 3.3, 95% confidence interval (C.I.) = 2.69-4.13), among females with post-menopausal duration (PMD) of more than or equal to 3 years (OR = 9.27, 95% C.I. = 6.36-13.50) and in those with BMI less than 23 with one or other risk factors (P = 0.002, OR = 1.38, 95% C.I. = 1.13-1.70).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>BMI cannot be considered as a lone independent risk factor, as the study population had low BMI but had one or more modifiable risk factors. It would be advisable to keep BMI at least 21 kg/m²for screening program. Health education on life style modification and programs to diagnose and control diabetes and hypertension have to be initiated at community level in order to reduce the occurrence.</p

Modulating RNA structure and catalysis: lessons from small cleaving ribozymes

RNA is a key molecule in life, and comprehending its structure/function relationships is a crucial step towards a more complete understanding of molecular biology. Even though most of the information required for their correct folding is contained in their primary sequences, we are as yet unable to accurately predict both the folding pathways and active tertiary structures of RNA species. Ribozymes are interesting molecules to study when addressing these questions because any modifications in their structures are often reflected in their catalytic properties. The recent progress in the study of the structures, the folding pathways and the modulation of the small ribozymes derived from natural, self-cleaving, RNA motifs have significantly contributed to today’s knowledge in the field

Vertically aligned ZnO nanorod core-polypyrrole conducting polymer sheath and nanotube arrays for electrochemical supercapacitor energy storage

Nanocomposite electrodes having three-dimensional (3-D) nanoscale architecture comprising of vertically aligned ZnO nanorod array core-polypyrrole (PPy) conducting polymer sheath and the vertical PPy nanotube arrays have been investigated for supercapacitor energy storage. The electrodes in the ZnO nanorod core-PPy sheath structure are formed by preferential nucleation and deposition of PPy layer over hydrothermally synthesized vertical ZnO nanorod array by controlled pulsed current electropolymerization of pyrrole monomer under surfactant action. The vertical PPy nanotube arrays of different tube diameter are created by selective etching of the ZnO nanorod core in ammonia solution for different periods. Cyclic voltammetry studies show high areal-specific capacitance approximately 240 mF.cm(-2) for open pore and approximately 180 mF.cm(-2) for narrow 30-to-36-nm diameter PPy nanotube arrays attributed to intensive faradic processes arising from enhanced access of electrolyte ions through nanotube interior and exterior. Impedance spectroscopy studies show that capacitive response extends over larger frequency domain in electrodes with PPy nanotube structure. Simulation of Nyquist plots by electrical equivalent circuit modeling establishes that 3-D nanostructure is better represented by constant phase element which accounts for the inhomogeneous electrochemical redox processes. Charge-discharge studies at different current densities establish that kinetics of the redox process in PPy nanotube electrode is due to the limitation on electron transport rather than the diffusive process of electrolyte ions. The PPy nanotube electrodes show deep discharge capability with high coulomb efficiency and long-term charge-discharge cyclic studies show nondegrading performance of the specific areal capacitance tested for 5,000 cycles

Five insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides a rules-based synthesis of the available evidence on levels and trends in health outcomes, a diverse set of risk factors, and health system responses. GBD 2019 covered 204 countries and territories, as well as first administrative level disaggregations for 22 countries, from 1990 to 2019. Because GBD is highly standardised and comprehensive, spanning both fatal and non-fatal outcomes, and uses a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of hierarchical disease and injury causes, the study provides a powerful basis for detailed and broad insights on global health trends and emerging challenges. GBD 2019 incorporates data from 281 586 sources and provides more than 3.5 billion estimates of health outcome and health system measures of interest for global, national, and subnational policy dialogue. All GBD estimates are publicly available and adhere to the Guidelines on Accurate and Transparent Health Estimate Reporting. From this vast amount of information, five key insights that are important for health, social, and economic development strategies have been distilled. These insights are subject to the many limitations outlined in each of the component GBD capstone papers.Peer reviewe

Combination of searches for heavy spin-1 resonances using 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A combination of searches for new heavy spin-1 resonances decaying into different pairings of W, Z, or Higgs bosons, as well as directly into leptons or quarks, is presented. The data sample used corresponds to 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at = 13 TeV collected during 2015–2018 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Analyses selecting quark pairs (qq, bb, , and tb) or third-generation leptons (τν and ττ) are included in this kind of combination for the first time. A simplified model predicting a spin-1 heavy vector-boson triplet is used. Cross-section limits are set at the 95% confidence level and are compared with predictions for the benchmark model. These limits are also expressed in terms of constraints on couplings of the heavy vector-boson triplet to quarks, leptons, and the Higgs boson. The complementarity of the various analyses increases the sensitivity to new physics, and the resulting constraints are stronger than those from any individual analysis considered. The data exclude a heavy vector-boson triplet with mass below 5.8 TeV in a weakly coupled scenario, below 4.4 TeV in a strongly coupled scenario, and up to 1.5 TeV in the case of production via vector-boson fusion