Fundus flavimaculatus: Clinical images and review of literature

Stargardt disease (STGD) or fundus flavimaculatus is a progressive form of juvenile macular degeneration with considerableclinical and genetic heterogeneity. It may be considered a syndromal cone-rod dystrophy due to overlapping clinical features suchas loss of color vision and photophobia in some patients. Here, we report a case of fundus flavimaculatus in a 32-year-old femaleand discuss the literature pertaining to it. Clinical data including medical history, findings on physical examination and localexamination were suggestive of fundus flavimaculatus. Best-corrected visual acuity of the patient remained constant at 6/12 for1 year with the patient being on 3-month follow-up. No particular or specific treatment is available for this fundus dystrophy andfrequent follow-ups may help diagnose and manage associated choroidal neovascular membrane at the earliest. The only modalityis available in the form of low vision aids for advanced disease

Bioremediation: the eco-friendly solution to the hazardous problem of environmental pollution

Bioremediation is a technique to enhance natural biological processes to rectify polluted groundwater, soil, and even entire habitats. Bioremediation techniques use biological agents to act upon hazardous, toxic materials and subsequently convert them into less toxic substances.Microbes are organisms ubiquitously present in the biosphere. These microorganisms are the main agents that remediate toxic and polluted environmental conditions. Highly polluted areas can be rectified using proper bioremediation procedures and interventions. In this review we have studied the different bioremediation techniques which can be utilized to correct the harmful effects of environmental pollution. In this study we have also emphasized on the benefits of adopting bioremediation as an efficient alternative technique in comparison to the traditional physical and chemical methods to restore the healthy environmental conditions

A nationwide study of adults admitted to hospital with diabetic ketoacidosis or hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state and COVID‐19

AimsTo investigate characteristics of people hospitalized with coronavirus-disease-2019 (COVID-19) and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) or hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state (HHS), and to identify risk factors for mortality and intensive care admission.Materials and methodsRetrospective cohort study with anonymized data from the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists nationwide audit of hospital admissions with COVID-19 and diabetes, from start of pandemic to November 2021. The primary outcome was inpatient mortality. DKA and HHS were adjudicated against national criteria. Age-adjusted odds ratios were calculated using logistic regression.ResultsIn total, 85 confirmed DKA cases, and 20 HHS, occurred among 4073 people (211 type 1 diabetes, 3748 type 2 diabetes, 114 unknown type) hospitalized with COVID-19. Mean (SD) age was 60 (18.2) years in DKA and 74 (11.8) years in HHS (p < .001). A higher proportion of patients with HHS than with DKA were of non-White ethnicity (71.4% vs 39.0% p = .038). Mortality in DKA was 36.8% (n = 57) and 3.8% (n = 26) in type 2 and type 1 diabetes respectively. Among people with type 2 diabetes and DKA, mortality was lower in insulin users compared with non-users [21.4% vs. 52.2%; age-adjusted odds ratio 0.13 (95% CI 0.03-0.60)]. Crude mortality was lower in DKA than HHS (25.9% vs. 65.0%, p = .001) and in statin users versus non-users (36.4% vs. 100%; p = .035) but these were not statistically significant after age adjustment.ConclusionsHospitalization with COVID-19 and adjudicated DKA is four times more common than HHS but both associate with substantial mortality. There is a strong association of previous insulin therapy with survival in type 2 diabetes-associated DKA

Low cost thermoplastic composites: An empirical approach

In this report, the possibility of replacing high performance thermoplastic polymers with alternative low-cost ones is investigated. Since thermoplastics offer fast processing times and the opportunity to use efficient production processes which are not suitable for thermosets, they are an attractive materialsystem for the aerospace/automobile industry. However, the processing and procurement costs are a limiting factor for high grade thermoplastic polymers.Candidate alternatives are looked into in the review, and testing modules are investigated in order to assimilate the tools for a trade-off analysis. Glass/PEI was selected as the benchmark material, and Carbon/PA-12 was decided upon as the candidate low-cost alternative. The final aim is to quantify the viability of the substitute polymers in direct comparison to the existing ones. It is evident from the investigations that the PA-12 is not a direct replacement for PEI or other similar high-performance polymers due to its performance limitations, but it does exhibit some potential owing to the cost-effectiveness of its processing requirements. If some of the limitations of the PA-12 polymer can be mitigated using engineering solutions, it can prove to be a viable alternative to costlier options in less demanding applications.Aerospace Engineering | Structures and Material

Loeffler's Syndrome

Nidhi Narula, Rajiv Mahajan and Manojkumar Rohithttp://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00246-010-9732-7?LI=tru

Integrating responsible education principles into a conventional system: the case study of TERI School of Advanced Studies, India

Business managers are now conscious of the need for environmentally and socially responsible behaviour and that current and future generations of managers should be trained to engage responsibly with different stakeholders. This puts responsible management education in focus, and many institutions worldwide—and initiatives like Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME)—are enhancing communication and bridging the gap between diverse stakeholders. This chapter discusses a case study of The Energy and Resources Institute School of Advanced Studies (TERI SAS) (a PRME affiliate), an institution dedicated to education and research on sustainability in India. It takes an overview of how the university’s initiatives have introduced sustainability into education, along with engagement with stakeholders’ concerns. However, such initiatives may challenge the conventional education system in a developing country, and the chapter overviews these challenges faced by the university, both internal and external, and reports on the way forward for similar institutions in the context of developing countries.

Sudden death of a young child due to cardiac rhabdomyoma

This report describes a 1½-year-old boy who succumbed to acute obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract by a cardiac rhabdomyoma. He was admitted to have a transient loss of consciousness episode evaluated. A mobile intracardiac mass obstructing the left ventricular outflow tract and protruding into the aortic root during systole was detected by transthoracic echocardiography. At autopsy, it was confirmed to be a rhabdomyoma.Anju Gupta, Nidhi Narula, Rajiv Mahajan and Manojkumar Rohi

Extraconal cavernous hemangioma of orbit: A case report

Cavernous hemangioma is the most common benign noninfiltrative neoplasm of the orbit. Most cavernous hemangiomas are intraconal and lateral in location. We present a case of a cavernous hemangioma with an unusual extraconal and superomedial location

Efficacy of imidacloprid and fipronil gels over synthetic pyrethroid and propoxur aerosols in control of German cockroaches (Dictyoptera: Blatellidae)

Background & objectives: Resistance amongst cockroaches has been reported to most of the sprayinsecticides apart from the problem of food contamination and inconvenience. Gel baits which canbe selectively applied have been found effective in control of cockroaches in laboratory studies butvery few field studies are available. This trial was planned to evaluate the efficacy of fipronil(0.01%) and imidacloprid (2.15%) gels over synthetic pyrethroid (0.02% deltamethrin + 0.13%allethrin) and propoxur (2%) aerosols in control of cockroaches in the field.Methods: Survey was done to find out pre-treatment density in catering establishments and housesby visual count and sticky trap methods. A total of 10 catering establishments and 10 houseshaving high cockroach infestation were selected by sampling (two catering establishments andhouses for each insecticidal treatment and two for control). Propoxur and synthetic pyrethroidaerosols were used for spraying the infested sites once only. Single application of fipronil andimidacloprid gels was used as crack and crevice treatment. Visual count method gave betterindications of cockroach infestation as compared to sticky trap method, hence, the same was followedfor post-treatment evaluation every week up to 12 weeks.Results: Synthetic pyrethroid could not bring about the desired reduction in cockroach infestationin the present study. Single application of fipronil gel was able to reduce cockroach infestation upto 96.8% at the end of 12 weeks whereas imidacloprid application resulted in 90.9% reduction andpropoxur resulted in 77.5%. However, propoxur was more effective in reducing the cockroachdensity by first week in comparison to imidacloprid and fipronil gels but its efficacy started decliningafter 8th week. Difference was found statistically significant by Kruskal-Wallis H-test.Conclusion: The study reports the efficacy of propoxur aerosol, imidacloprid gel and fipronil gelbaits for control of cockroaches

Subjective and objective/machine evaluation of wool luster in Magra sheep vis-a-vis wool grading and animal selection

<p>Wool of Magra sheep in India is well-known for its fiber quality and luster. In the present study, subjective and objective luster grading wool clips and its association with fiber diameter was done. It was found that for higher luster grades, their fiber attributes are closer to lower limits of ideal carpet wool, viz. fiber diameter and proportion of medullated fibers to 30 µm with medullation 30%. Canary colored wool’s whiteness index (L*) may be considered as one of the physical properties for identification of wool luster. Subjective grades indicated that visual grading of wool samples was very close to the quality appraisal of attributes.</p