Short communicationPost-TURP obliterative urethral stricture: Unusual treatment and favourable result

Urethral stricture is a well-known complication after TURP. Most cases present with recurrence of lower urinary tract symptoms. In rare incidences, complete obliteration of the urethra is diagnosed. Management of such cases is challenging and usually associated with a poor outcome. We report a case of post-TURP obliterative urethral stricture that was managed successfully by Holmium laser core-through urethrotomy. On discharge, the patient was continent and voided well.Keywords: Urethral stricture; TURP; Holmium laserAfrican Journal of Urology (2013) 19, 18–2

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The effect of ionic composition on acoustic phonon speeds in hybrid perovskites from Brillouin spectroscopy and density functional theory

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2018. Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) have recently emerged as highly promising solution-processable materials for photovoltaic (PV) and other optoelectronic devices. HOIPs represent a broad family of materials with properties highly tuneable by the ions that make up the perovskite structure as well as their multiple combinations. Interestingly, recent high-efficiency PV devices using HOIPs with substantially improved long-term stability have used combinations of different ionic compositions. The structural dynamics of these systems are unique for semiconducting materials and are currently argued to be central to HOIPs stability and charge-transport properties. Here, we studied the impact of ionic composition on phonon speeds of HOIPs from Brillouin spectroscopy experiments and density functional theory calculations for FAPbBr3, MAPbBr3, MAPbCl3, and the mixed halide MAPbBr1.25Cl1.75. Our results show that the acoustic phonon speeds can be strongly modified by ionic composition, which we explain by analysing the lead-halide sublattice in detail. The vibrational properties of HOIPs are therefore tuneable by using targeted ionic compositions in the perovskite structure. This tuning can be rationalized by non-trivial effects, for example, considering the influence of the shape and dipole moment of organic cations. This has an important implications for further improvements in the stability and charge-transport properties of these systems

Understanding the Performance-Limiting Factors of Cs₂AgBiBr₆ Double-Perovskite Solar Cells

Double perovskites have recently emerged as possible alternatives to lead-based halide perovskites for photovoltaic applications. In particular, Understanding the Performance-Limiting Factors of Cs₂AgBiBr₆ Double-Perovskite Solar Cells has been the subject of several studies because of its environmental stability, low toxicity, and its promising optoelectronic features. Despite these encouraging features, the performances of solar cells based on this double perovskite are still low, suggesting severe limitations that need to be addressed. In this work we combine experimental and theoretical studies to show that the short electron diffusion length is one of the major causes for the limited performance of Cs₂AgBiBr₆ solar cells. Using EQE measurements on semitransparent Cs₂AgBiBr₆ solar cells we estimate the electron diffusion length to be only 30 nm and corroborated this value by terahertz spectroscopy. By using photothermal deflection spectroscopy and surface photovoltage measurements we correlate the limited electron diffusion length with a high density of electron traps. Our findings highlight important faults affecting this double perovskite, showing the challenges to overcome and hinting to a possible path to improve the efficiency of Cs₂AgBiBr₆ solar cells

Catharanthus roseus flower extract has wound-healing activity in Sprague Dawley rats

BACKGROUND: Catharanthus roseus L (C. roseus) has been used to treat a wide assortment of diseases including diabetes. The objective of our study was to evaluate the antimicrobial and wound healing activity of the flower extract of Catharanthus in rats. METHODS: Wound healing activity was determined in rats, after administration (100 mg kg(-1 )day(-1)) of the ethanol extract of C. roseus flower, using excision, incision and dead space wounds models. The animals were divided into two groups of 6 each in all the models. In the excision model, group 1 animals were topically treated with carboxymethyl cellulose as placebo control and group 2 received topical application of the ethanol extract of C. roseus at a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight/day. In an incision and dead space model group 1 animals were given normal saline and group 2 received the extract orally at a dose of 100 mg kg(-1 )day(-1). Healing was assessed by the rate of wound contraction, period of epithelization, tensile strength (skin breaking strength), granulation tissue weight, and hydoxyproline content. Antimicrobial activity of the flower extract against four microorganisms was also assessed RESULTS: The extract of C. roseus significantly increased the wound breaking strength in the incision wound model compared with controls (P < 0.001). The extract-treated wounds were found to epithelialize faster, and the rate of wound contraction was significantly increased in comparison to control wounds (P < 0.001), Wet and dry granulation tissue weights, and hydroxyproline content in a dead space wound model increased significantly (p < 0.05). Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus demonstrated sensitivity to C. roseus CONCLUSION: Increased wound contraction and tensile strength, augmented hydroxyproline content along with antimicrobial activity support the use of C. roseus in the topical management of wound healing

Development of a compact and low-cost weather station for renewable energy applications

This paper describes the development of a weather station integrating several sensors which allows the measurement and data storage of the following environmental parameters: solar irradiance, temperature, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. The collected data is later transferred to a mobile device, where it is stored in a database and processed in order to be visualized and analyzed by the user. For such purpose, a dedicated mobile app was developed and presented along the paper. The weather station also integrates small solar photovoltaic modules of three different technologies: polycrystalline, monocrystalline and amorphous silicon. Based on that, the weather station also collects information that may be employed to help the user in determining the most suitable solar photovoltaic technology for installation in a particular location. The developed system uses a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) wireless network to transfer the data to the mobile device when the user approaches the weather station. The system operation was validated through experimental tests that encompass all the main developed features, from the data acquisition in the weather station, to the visualization in the mobile device.- (undefined

Discussion on a possible neutrino detector located in India

We have identified some important and worthwhile physics opportunitites with a possible neutrino detector located in India. Particular emphasis is placed on the geographical advantage with a stress on the complimentary aspects with respect to other neutrino detectors already in operation.Comment: 9 pages; arXiv copy of published proceedings contributio

A piperidinium salt stabilizes efficient metal-halide perovskite solar cells

Longevity has been a long-standing concern for hybrid perovskite photovoltaics. We demonstrate high-resilience positive-intrinsic-negative perovskite solar cells by incorporating a piperidinium-based ionic compound into the formamidinium-cesium lead-trihalide perovskite absorber. With the bandgap tuned to be well suited for perovskite-on-silicon tandem cells, this piperidinium additive enhances the open-circuit voltage and cell efficiency. This additive also retards compositional segregation into impurity phases and pinhole formation in the perovskite absorber layer during aggressive aging. Under full-spectrum simulated sunlight in ambient atmosphere, our unencapsulated and encapsulated cells retain 80 and 95% of their peak and post-burn-in efficiencies for 1010 and 1200 hours at 60° and 85°C, respectively. Our analysis reveals detailed degradation routes that contribute to the failure of aged cells

Relationship of cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia in remission to disability: a cross-sectional study in an Indian sample

Background: Cognitive deficits in various domains have been consistently replicated in patients with schizophrenia. Most studies looking at the relationship between cognitive dysfunction and functional disability are from developed countries. Studies from developing countries are few. The purpose of the present study was to compare the neurocognitive function in patients with schizophrenia who were in remission with that of normal controls and to determine if there is a relationship between measures of cognition and functional disability. &lt;p/&gt;Methods: This study was conducted in the Psychiatric Unit of a General Hospital in Mumbai, India. Cognitive function in 25 patients with schizophrenia in remission was compared to 25 normal controls. Remission was confirmed using the brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS) and scale for the assessment of negative symptoms (SANS). Subjects were administered a battery of cognitive tests covering aspects of memory, executive function and attention. The results obtained were compared between the groups. Correlation analysis was used to look for relationship between illness factors, cognitive function and disability measured using the Indian disability evaluation and assessment scale. &lt;p/&gt;Results: Patients with schizophrenia showed significant deficits on tests of attention, concentration, verbal and visual memory and tests of frontal lobe/executive function. They fared worse on almost all the tests administered compared to normal controls. No relationship was found between age, duration of illness, number of years of education and cognitive function. In addition, we did not find a statistically significant relationship between cognitive function and scores on the disability scale. &lt;p/&gt;Conclusion: The data suggests that persistent cognitive deficits are seen in patients with schizophrenia under remission. The cognitive deficits were not associated with symptomatology and functional disability. It is possible that various factors such as employment and family support reduce disability due to schizophrenia in developing countries like India. Further studies from developing countries are required to explore the relationship between cognitive deficits, functional outcome and the role of socio-cultural variables as protective factors