Anemia in Antiretroviral Naïve HIV/AIDS Patients: A Study from Eastern India

Background: Hematological manifestations are common throughout the course of HIV infection. Impact of anemia is the most significant among them. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the etiologies underlying anemia in HIV/AIDS. Methods This was a non randomized cross sectional observational study conducted in a tertiary care hospital of India over a period of 2 years. One hundred and fifty HIV patients were screened. Thorough clinical and laboratory evaluation was done in 50 randomly selected anemic cases. Results: Proper etiological diagnosis could be reached in 46 patients. Among them correlation between Hb% and CD4 count was statistically insignificant (p = 0.074, r = 0.47) whereas it was significant with absolute lymphocyte and CD4 count (p = 0.006, r = 0.41). There was better correlation of bone marrow iron status with percent saturation of transferrin (p = 0.003, r = 0.54) than with serum ferritin (p = 0.055, r = 0.09). Bone marrow iron status did not have any relationship with CD4 count. Anemia of chronic disease was the commonest etiology (37%) followed by HIV related myelodysplastic syndrome (31%), iron deficiency anemia (13%), bone marrow suppression due to direct involvement by some infective process (7%). Aplastic anemia, multiple myeloma, Hodgkin’s disease, pure red cell aplasia, hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis and vitamin B12 deficiency were detected in one case (2%) each. Conclusions: Etiologies of anemia in HIV/AIDS are multifactorial with anemia of chronic disease being the commonest. For screening of iron deficiency in this group, percent saturation is a better tool than serum ferritin. Absolute lymphocyte count can sometimes be used as a surrogate marker of immunological status in antiretroviral naïve HIV patients, particularly in resource poor areas

“BE YOURSELF” (the Creation of a Music Composition)

An artistic workmanship is a creative work process of an artist in creating artworks. Artwork meant by the writer is "Be Yourself", which is related to the establishment of his self-characters that grown up in Sundanese culture. Life journey was a dynamic process and became the will of the Almighty. God's destiny and life journey made the writer as “urangsumando” (people related by marriage) in Minangkabau. Cross-cultural was a life journey to be (yourself) and the destiny he should do – being in two different culture positions. Such differences did not automatically make the writer soluble in integration – he existed in two conceptions. In the realization, how the concepts are able to deliver other offers which have contribution to the development of artistic creation. The discussion in this article is the artistic forms as the exploration, working material, and forms of performance

Simultaneous Extraction of Zinc and Manganese Dioxide from Zinc Sulphide Concentrate and Manganese Ore

Direct leaching studies of mixture of zinc sulphide concentrate (concentrate) of Himalayan origin and manganese ore (ore) in stoichiometric proportion according to the reaction : ZnS + Mn02 + 2H2SO4 = ZnSO4 + MnSO4 + S° + 2H20 in dilute sulphuric acid (present in spent liquor from electro-winning cells) were carried out to test its amenability to a novel process developed at National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML). The liberated sulphur in the sludge was extracted in pure form. The effects of controlling parameters viz. acid-concentration, temper-ature and duration of leaching were investigated to opti-mize the leaching conditions. Extraction efficiencies of zinc and sulphur under best condition were —82% each, while that of manganese was —95%. The inextricable portion of zinc sulphide was investigated with the help of XRD analysis of the concentrate and the final residue. The leach solution purified by conventional hydro-metallur-gical technique was fed to an electrolytic cell for simultaneous electro-winning of zinc and electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD). The EMD was y-variety as shown by TG/DTA and XRD analyses

The color of polarization in cuprate superconductors

A technique for the identification of individual anisotropic grains in a heterogeneous and opaque material involves the observation of grain color in reflected light through crossed polarizers (color of polarization). Such colors are generally characteristic of particular phases. When grains of many members of the class of hole carrier cuprate superconductors are so viewed, using a xenon light source (600 K color temperature), a characteristic color of polarization is observed. This color was studied in many of these cuprate superconductors and a strong correlation was found between color and the existence of superconductivity. One of the members of the electron carrier cuprate superconductors (Nd(1.85)Ce(.15)CuO(4-x) was examined and found that it possesses the same color of polarization as all the electron hole carrier cuprate superconductors so far examined. The commonality of the characteristic color in the cuprate superconductors indicated that the presence of this color is independent of the nature of charge carriers. The correlation of this color with existence of superconductivity suggests that the origin of the color relates to the origin of superconductivity in the cuprate superconductors. Photometric techniques are also discussed

Free Energy Self-Averaging in Protein-Sized Random Heteropolymers

Current theories of heteropolymers are inherently macrpscopic, but are applied to folding proteins which are only mesoscopic. In these theories, one computes the averaged free energy over sequences, always assuming that it is self-averaging -- a property well-established only if a system with quenched disorder is macroscopic. By enumerating the states and energies of compact 18, 27, and 36mers on a simplified lattice model with an ensemble of random sequences, we test the validity of the self-averaging approximation. We find that fluctuations in the free energy between sequences are weak, and that self-averaging is a valid approximation at the length scale of real proteins. These results validate certain sequence design methods which can exponentially speed up computational design and greatly simplify experimental realizations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Is Heteropolymer Freezing Well Described by the Random Energy Model?

It is widely held that the Random Energy Model (REM) describes the freezing transition of a variety of types of heteropolymers. We demonstrate that the hallmark property of REM, statistical independence of the energies of states over disorder, is violated in different ways for models commonly employed in heteropolymer freezing studies. The implications for proteins are also discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figures To appear in Physical Review Letters, May 199

Melting behaviour of sponge iron in induction furnace

Sponge iron with its consistency of composition, lower content of tramp elements and particularly low phosphorus and of sulphur has drawn the attention of medium/large scale foundries for producing quality steel castings. It is one of the alternative charge materials to scrap in induction furnaces. National Metallurgical Laboratory has made an attempt to melt sponge iron in induction furnaces and optimize its melting behavour. It is possible to use continuous charging arrangements for melting of 100% sponge iron in induction furnace

Random walks in the space of conformations of toy proteins

Monte Carlo dynamics of the lattice 48 monomers toy protein is interpreted as a random walk in an abstract (discrete) space of conformations. To test the geometry of this space, we examine the return probability $P(T)$, which is the probability to find the polymer in the native state after $T$ Monte Carlo steps, provided that it starts from the native state at the initial moment. Comparing computational data with the theoretical expressions for $P(T)$ for random walks in a variety of different spaces, we show that conformational spaces of polymer loops may have non-trivial dimensions and exhibit negative curvature characteristic of Lobachevskii (hyperbolic) geometry.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Flyash lime gypsum bricks - A boon for Vidarbha region

Flyash line gypsum bricks are much superior to conventional clay bricks available in the Vidarbha region. This fact has been established by the authors through extensive research work. Need of the hour is to give proper technical support to the manufacturers of the fly ash bricks and to provide proper facilities to monitor the quality of these bricks so as to make them popular and acceptable to the consumers