Soret-Dufour, radiation and hall effects on unsteady mhd flow of a viscous incompressible fluid past an inclined plate embedded in porous medium

A study is presented with Soret-Dufour, Hall and radiation effects on unsteady MHD flow of a viscous incompressible fluid past an inclined porous plate immersed in porous medium. The governing equations of non-dimensional forms of flow field were solved numerically using Crank-Nicolson implicit finite difference method. The results are obtained for velocity, temperature and concentration. The effects of various parameters are discussed on flow variables and are presented through graphs and tables.This research was supported by University Grant Commission of India.Publisher's Versio

Urban Dengue Surveillance over Sixteen Years: Integration, Trend Analysis and Participation of Private Medical Sector

Purpose: The increasing urbanisation and evolution of dengue vector offers favorable grounds for dengue. In absence of effective vaccine and therapeutic interventions, surveillance and reporting becomes mainstay for dengue management.Methods: Extensive efforts integrated various components (vector, human case, laboratory, environment and virus) of dengue surveillance with existing vector-borne disease surveillance in a large municipal corporation of western India. Approximately 80% private sector was involved to enhance and expand epidemiological picture of dengue transmission. Weekly entomological surveillance for immature and mature forms of Aedes mosquito was performed by trained team. Standardised sentinel hospital laboratories confirmed serological diagnosis. Virus serotype surveys and environmental indices were integrated later.Results: Between years 2000- 2016, total 24,506 clinically suspected and 3,515 confirmed cases were tested and reported respectively. After 2006, private sector contributed 10970 (40%) suspected and 971 (30%) confirmed cases. The adult vector density emerged as significantly correlated (r=0.67) to dengue cases. Low (<1) level of larval indices; House index (HI), Container’s index (CI) and Breteau index (BI) supported dengue transmission. The virus serotype survey shows predominant DEN-2 strain. The quality controlled and detailed case information guided implementation of prevention and control measure.Conclusions: Integration of dengue surveillance components with special emphasis on private sector leads to better informed program managers and healthcare providers

Splenic Hydatid Cyst- A Case Report

Asymptomatic hydatid cyst presents as an incidental finding. It is caused by Echinococcus granulosus. The liver is known to be involved organ, while the spleen is rarely involved. Hydatid cyst of the spleen should be considered as one of the differential diagnosis in patients presenting with left hypochondriac pain.This poses a clinical challenge. The decision on conservation or surgery is also a dilemma. To decrease incidence of Overwhelming Postsplenectomy Infection (OPSI) for elective splenectomy, vaccination protocol should be followed. It is important for the clinician to bear in mind the possibility of incidental asymptomatic splenic hydatid cyst and management protocols. Authors, hereby reports, a case of 26-year-old lady with complain of left hypochondriac pain, diagnosed with Ultrasound Sonography (USG) and Contrast Enhanced Computed Tomography (CECT) scan as splenic hydatid cyst. The patient underwent splenectomy after completion of vaccination to avoid OPSI. At six month follow-up the patient was asymptomatic

MRI Analysis of White Matter Myelin Water Content in Multiple Sclerosis: A Novel Approach Applied to Finding Correlates of Cortical Thinning

A novel lesion-mask free method based on a gamma mixture model was applied to myelin water fraction (MWF) maps to estimate the association between cortical thickness and myelin content, and how it differs between relapsing-remitting (RRMS) and secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) groups (135 and 23 patients, respectively). It was compared to an approach based on lesion masks. The gamma mixture distribution of whole brain, white matter (WM) MWF was characterized with three variables: the mode (most frequent value) m1 of the gamma component shown to relate to lesion, the mode m2 of the component shown to be associated with normal appearing (NA) WM, and the mixing ratio (λ) between the two distributions. The lesion-mask approach relied on the mean MWF within lesion and within NAWM. A multivariate regression analysis was carried out to find the best predictors of cortical thickness for each group and for each approach. The gamma-mixture method was shown to outperform the lesion-mask approach in terms of adjusted R2, both for the RRMS and SPMS groups. The predictors of the final gamma-mixture models were found to be m1 (β = 1.56, p \u3c 0.005), λ (β = −0.30, p \u3c 0.0005) and age (β = −0.0031, p \u3c 0.005) for the RRMS group (adjusted R2 = 0.16), and m2 (β = 4.72, p \u3c 0.0005) for the SPMS group (adjusted R2 = 0.45). Further, a DICE coefficient analysis demonstrated that the lesion mask had more overlap to an ROI associated with m1, than to an ROI associated with m2 (p \u3c 0.00001), and vice versa for the NAWM mask (p \u3c 0.00001). These results suggest that during the relapsing phase, focal WM damage is associated with cortical thinning, yet in SPMS patients, global WM deterioration has a much stronger influence on secondary degeneration. Through these findings, we demonstrate the potential contribution of myelin loss on neuronal degeneration at different disease stages and the usefulness of our statistical reduction technique which is not affected by the typical bias associated with approaches based on lesion masks

A Clinical Study of Ocular Trauma in Paediatric patients attending Tertiary Care Centre

Aims: To study demographic parameters, modes of injury, its impact and relation to visual outcomes in paediatric ocular trauma. Methods: A prospective observational study was done at a tertiary centrefor 120 eyes of 117 patients over a period of 2 years. Results: Mean age of patients in this study was, 7.97 ± 3.919 years with males being predominance. No severe injuries were noted in children whose parents had college-level education. Mean distance between the place of injury and our centrehad no significant correlation with final BCVA but it significantly correlated with delay in presentation. Wooden Stickand household itemswere the most common agents of injury, followedby iron wire/rod/nailand Chemical/Thermal agents. Most common pathology was Corneal tear followed by corneoscleral tear and Chemical / Thermal injuries. Posterior segment involvement was seen in 27.5 %of cases. Traumatic cataract was noted in 13 eyes. Open globe injuriesexceededclosed globe ones. Prognostically closed globe injuries had better visual outcome and achieved higher BCVA than closed globe ones irrespective of mode of management being surgical/ nonsurgical. Conclusion: This study showed a demographic snapshot for the patients of ocular trauma, withthe male child between the age group of 6-8 years most commonly affected. BCVA was relatednot to socioeconomic status, but educational status of the patients. Mode and type of injury strongly correlated withvisual acuity. Final BCVA correlated to BCVA at presentation, and not to the treatment factors, thusmaking primary prevention of trauma of paramount importance

Rendering Protein-Based Particles Transiently Insoluble for Therapeutic Applications

Herein we report the fabrication of protein (bovine serum albumin, BSA) particles which were rendered transiently insoluble using a novel, reductively labile disulfide-based cross-linker. After being cross-linked, the protein particles retain their integrity in aqueous solution and dissolve preferentially under a reducing environment. Our data demonstrates that cleavage of the cross-linker leaves no chemical residue on the reactive amino group. Delivery of a self-replicating RNA was achieved via the transiently insoluble PRINT protein particles. These protein particles can provide new opportunities for drug and gene delivery

Difference in clinical profile between juvenile onset and adult-onset systemic lupus erythematosus: a meta-analysis

The aim was to systematically review the studies that compared clinical and serological variation between adult-onset systematic lupus erythematosus (aSLE) andjuvenile-onset systematic lupus erythematosus (jSLE). A comprehensive literature search was done, in various available electronic databases for relevant publication that compared juvenile onset SLE and adult onset SLE. The data of adverse clinical features, serological profile and mortality were extracted. Juvenile onset was defined as 18 years. The methodological quality of study was assessed by Newcastle Ottawa scale (NOS) criteria and R version 3.3.1 was used for analysis and ORs and 95% CIs, were used as statistical parameter. A total of 14,920 patients; (12,230: aSLE, and 2,690: jSLE) were included. Renal involvement especially nephritis was significantly more in j-SLE OR: 2.18, 95% CI: [1.81;2.62]; I2=10.8% whereas musculoskeletal was significant in aSLE O.R: 0.64; C.I: [0.44; 0.93]; I2=83.4%. Seizure and malar rash were significantly higher in J-SLE OR:1.69, CI: [1.31; 2.18]; I2=31.1%,1.43; C.I [1.04; 1.97]; I2=82%, respectively. Raynaud’s phenomenon and pleuritis were significantly higher in adult onset SLE. Anemia and thrombocytopenia were significantly higher in juvenile onset SLE. Anti-ds DNA, anti-histone, and anti-ribosomal-P were more frequent in juvenile-onset SLE while, anti-Ro was more common in adult-onset disease. The cause of mortality was not significantly different in both groups. Renal biopsy of class III and IV combined and class V were significantly more in adult-onset SLE. SLEDAI was higher in j-SLE. Meta-analysis indicated that, regardless of many similar clinical and serological manifestations, there is still some variation between adult-onset SLE and juvenile-onset SLE. Although, SLE disease is continuum from juvenile to adult but disease aggressive in juvenile onset SLE

Low Modulus Biomimetic Microgel Particles with High Loading of Hemoglobin

We synthesized extremely deformable red blood cell-like microgel particles and loaded them with bovine hemoglobin (Hb) to potentiate oxygen transport. With similar shape and size as red blood cells (RBCs), the particles were fabricated using the PRINT® (Particle Replication In Non-wetting Templates) technique. Low crosslinking of the hydrogel resulted in very low mesh density for these particles, allowing passive diffusion of hemoglobin throughout the particles. Hb was secured in the particles through covalent conjugation of the lysine groups of Hb to carboxyl groups in the particles via EDC/NHS coupling. Confocal microscopy of particles bound to fluorescent dye-labeled Hb confirmed the uniform distribution of Hb throughout the particle interior, as opposed to the surface conjugation only. High loading ratios, up to 5 times the amount of Hb to polymer by weight, were obtained, without a significant effect on particle stability, shape, though particle diameter decreased slightly with Hb conjugation. Analysis of the protein by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy showed that the secondary structure of Hb was unperturbed by conjugation to the particles. Methemoglobin in the particles could be maintained at a low level and the loaded Hb could still bind oxygen as studied by UV-vis spectroscopy. Hb-loaded particles with moderate loading ratios demonstrated excellent deformability in microfluidic devices, easily deforming to pass through restricted pores half as wide as the diameter of the particles. The suspension of concentrated particles with Hb concentration of 5.2 g/dL showed comparable viscosity to that of mouse blood, and the particles remained intact even after being sheared at a constant high rate (1,000 1/s) for 10 min. Armed with the ability to control size, shape, deformability, and loading of Hb into RBC mimics, we will discuss the implications for artificial blood

Emission State Structure and Linewidth Broadening Mechanisms in Type-II CdSe/CdTe Core–Crown Nanoplatelets: A Combined Theoretical–Single Nanocrystal Optical Study

Type-II heterostructures are key elementary components in optoelectronic, photovoltaic, and quantum devices. The staggered band alignment of materials leads to the stabilization of indirect excitons (IXs), i.e., correlated electron–hole pairs experiencing spatial separation with novel properties, boosting optical gain and promoting strategies for the design of information storage, charge separation, or qubit manipulation devices. Planar colloidal CdSe/CdTe core–crown type-II nested structures, grown as nanoplatelets (NPLs), are the focus of the present work. By combining low temperature single NPL measurements and electronic structure calculations, we gain insights into the mechanisms impacting the emission properties. We are able to probe the sensitivity of the elementary excitations (IXs, trions) with respect to the appropriate structural parameter (core size). Neutral IXs, with binding energies reaching 50 meV, are shown to dominate the highly structured single NPL emission. The large broadening linewidth that persists at the single NPL level clearly results from strong exciton–LO phonon coupling (Eph = 21 meV) whose strength is poorly influenced by trapped charges. The spectral jumps (≈10 meV) in the photoluminescence recorded as a function of time are explained by the fluctuations in the IX electrostatic environment considering fractional variations (≈0.2 e) of the noncompensated charge defects

The effect of particle size on the biodistribution of low-modulus hydrogel PRINT particles

There is a growing recognition that the deformability of particles used for drug delivery plays a significant role on their biodistribution and circulation profile. Understanding these effects would provide a crucial tool for the rational design of drug delivery systems. While particles resembling red blood cells (RBCs) in size, shape and deformability have extended circulation times and altered biodistribution profiles compared to rigid, but otherwise similar particles, the in vivo behavior of such highly deformable particles of varied size has not been explored. We report the fabrication of a series of discoid, monodisperse, low-modulus hydrogel particles with diameters ranging from 0.8 to 8.9 μm, spanning sizes smaller than and larger than RBCs. We injected these particles into healthy mice, and tracked their concentration in the blood and their distribution into major organs. These deformable particles all demonstrated some hold up in filtration tissues like the lungs and spleen, followed by release back into the circulation, characterized by decreases in particles in these tissues with concomitant increases in particle concentration in blood. Particles similar to red blood cells in size demonstrated longer circulation times, suggesting that this size and shape of deformable particle is uniquely suited to avoid clearance