Design Fatigue Lives of Polypropylene Fibre Reinforced Polymer Concrete Composites

Flexural fatigue behavior of Poly-propylene fibre reinforced polymer concrete composites (PFRPCC) has been investigated at various stress levels and the statistical analysis of the data thus obtained has been carried out. Polymer Concrete Composite (PCC) samples without addition of any type of fibres were also tested for flexural fatigue.  Forty specimens of PCC and One hundred and Forty One specimens of PFRPCC containing 0.5%, 1.0% and 2.0% polypropylene fibres were tested in fatigue using a MTS servo controlled test system. Fatigue life distributions of PCC as well as PFRPCC are observed to approximately follow a two parameter Weibull distribution with correlation coefficient exceeding 0.9. The parameters of the Weibull distribution have been obtained by various methods. Failure probability, which is an important parameter in the fatigue design of materials, has been used to obtain the design fatigue lives for the material. Comparison of design fatigue life of PCC and PFRPCC has been carried out and it is observed that addition of fibres enhances the design fatigue life of PCC

Residues of Antibiotics in Raw Honeys from Different Apiaries of Northern India and Evaluation of Human Health Risks

Indiscriminate use of antibiotics in apicultural practices may lead to contamination of otherwise healthy and naturally produced honey. Contamination not only affects honey quality but also pose significant health risks to consumers. In this context, one hundred raw honey samples from India were analysed for presence of antibiotic residues. For determination of oxytetracycline and erythromycin, high performance liquid chromatography and for chloramphenicol, enzyme immunoassay based validated procedures were used. Oxytetracycline and erythromycin with concentrations above maximum tolerance limits were detected in 24% and 2% samples, respectively. None of the samples contained chloramphenicol residues. Although, total dietary intake of detected antibiotics through honey was found to be <1% of their acceptable daily intake values, the presence of antibiotics in honey is an alarming health concern for people following customary honey feeding. The outcomes underline the need of inter-sectoral approaches to create awareness among beekeepers regarding health risks associated with residues of antibiotics in honey and merits of approved apicultural practices. Therefore, to meet global food safety requirements, continual residue monitoring schemes along with enlightenment of beekeepers on scientific beehive management and risks associated with incautious apicultural practices are of vital importance

Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135686/1/jum201635112413.pd

Novel “nano-phage” interfaces for wireless biosensors

The prevention of food-borne illness has become a very important factor in public health. Meantime, the conventional microbiological detection techniques are time consuming, require proficiency and appropriate laboratory conditions. Recently, there has been an extensive work undertaken towards the development of diagnostic biosensor devices for on-site detection of biological threats that explore a diversity of transduction mechanisms and bio-recognition elements. In particular, the environmentally robust filamentous phages have been successfully used as an alternative to fragile antibodies in wireless biosensor system for real-time pathogen detection. However, when phages are used as interface, they can aggregate forming bundles of fibers that cannot cover completely the sensor’s interface leading to the decrease in sensor’s performance. In this work we developed novel wireless magnetoelastic biosensors with interface formed by biorecognition nanoparticles called “nano-phage”. “Nano-phage” comprises nanoparticles with diameter ~11 nm composed of self-assembled fusion major coat protein of landscape phages selected against the target analyte. For proof-of-concept, we investigated interfaces formed by three model phages selected from landscape libraries: streptavidin binders 7b1 and SAE10 and clone E2 highly specific and selective for S. typhimurium. Beside food borne pathogens, this new approach can be used to develop biosensors with increased performance for early detection of cancer diseases and other pathologies

Lack of seroresponse to SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccines given early post-transplant in patients primed pre-transplantation

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are recommended pre-transplantation, however, waning immunity and evolving variants mandate booster doses. Currently there no data to inform the optimal timing of booster doses post-transplant, in patients primed pre-transplant. We investigated serial serological samples in 204 transplant recipients who received 2 or 3 SARS-CoV-2 vaccines pre-transplant. Spike protein antibody concentrations, [anti-S], were measured on the day of transplantation and following booster doses post-transplant. In infection-naïve patients, post-booster [anti-S] did not change when V3 (1st booster) was given at 116(78-150) days post-transplant, falling from 122(32-574) to 111(34-682) BAU/ml, p=0.78. Similarly, in infection-experienced patients, [anti-S] on Day-0 and post-V3 were 1090(133-3667) and 2207(650-5618) BAU/ml respectively, p=0.26. In patients remaining infection-naïve, [anti-S] increased post-V4 (as 2nd booster) when given at 226(208-295) days post-transplant, rising from 97(34-1074) to 5134(229-5680) BAU/ml, p=0.0016. Whilst in patients who had 3 vaccines pre-transplant, who received V4 (as 1st booster) at 82(49-101) days post-transplant, [anti-S] did not change, falling from 981(396-2666) to 871(242-2092) BAU/ml, p=0.62. Overall, infection pre-transplant and [anti-S] at the time of transplantation predicted post-transplant infection risk. As [Anti-S] fail to respond to SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccines given early post-transplant, passive immunity may be beneficial to protect patients during this period

Oral and pharyngeal cancer in South Asians and non-South Asians in relation to socioeconomic deprivation in South East England.

From UK Thames Cancer Registry data, after controlling for socioeconomic deprivation of area of residence, South Asian males showed a higher relative risk of oral (1.36; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.67), but not of pharyngeal cancer than non-South Asian males, whereas South Asian females had much higher risks of these cancers (3.67; 95% CI: 2.97, 4.53 and 2.06; 95% CI: 1.44, 2.93), respectively, than non-South Asians