Study of NOx and loading of a soot filter versus EGR for a 2.4-L diesel engine

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set forth strict diesel emissions regulations that will take effect in 2004 and be totally phased in by 2007. For this action, the automotive industry has been compelled to assess new and current technologies to reduce diesel engine tailpipe emissions. Particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) are the emissions of major distress. Both emissions are linked to cause damage to plant and animal ecosystems and adversely affect human health. For many years, several methods have been employed to reduce PM and NOx. Currently, the most widely used techniques to reduce these emissions are exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and the particulate filter. NOx formation is heavily dependent on temperature and EGR reduces peak temperatures in the combustion chamber. PM emitted by diesel engines is primarily trapped by particulate filters and are removed from the filter by combustion or other similar methods. The purpose of this study is to investigate the dependence of NOx and PM emissions on EGR at various engine loads (0%, 25%, 50%, and 75% rated engine torque) and engine speed of 2000 rpm. The test cell used in this study employs a water brake dynamometer with a 2.4-L, five cylinder inline diesel engine. A vacuum driven system was implemented to control the EGR flow rate manually. For the purpose of this study, EGR rate was determined by the ratio of CO2 in the intake and exhaust. The measurements of the various exhaust quantities were determined by using the appropriate emission analyzers. The loading of the Microwave Regenerable Particulate Trap used in this study was expressed by the efficiency of the filter, which was determined by the measurement of smoke before and after the filter by the use of a smoke meter. This study shows that high levels of EGR are an effective method for the reduction of NOx, but increases the amount of PM emissions. For 75% engine load, NOx was lowered by 46% over the respective EGR range. Particulate emissions increased as EGR increased and for all loads and these emissions started to spike at critical EGR levels. PM spiked at 7% EGR for 75% engine load with appropriate increases for 25% and 50% engine loads. For the particulate trap used in the study, the effectiveness increased as EGR increased. Again, for 75% load, the efficiency of the filter varies from 50% at 0% EGR to 74.2% at roughly 10% EGR with the majority of the efficiency increase occurring beyond the critical EGR level

Maternal Impressions of the New 2019 Canadian Food Guide

Background: Canada’s new food guide was released on January 2019 followingits predecessor Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide released in 2007. Major changes in the new food guide included a partitioned plate of realfoods, messages around healthy eating being more than the foods you eat, and no feature of the milk and alternatives group. There were also no recommended servings for age groups or developmental stages including pregnant women. Objective: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of pregnant Canadian women toward the new Canada food guide.Methods: Eight pregnant women over the age of eighteen were recruited from facilities that offered prenatal fitness. Interviews included documenting impressions of the Canada food guide, dietary choices during pregnancy and planned dietary changes. The interviews were digitally recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Braun and Clarke thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.Results: All the participants were familiar with Canada food guides and all but three were aware of the newest version. Participants commented that the new food guide was appealing and healthy. Most participants had already madechanges to their daily diet that coincidentally corresponded to the new food guide. Many also followed the messages in the new food guide but reported that pregnancy was the main influence for food changes. Participants included more fruits and vegetables, and less meat than when they were not pregnant.The internet, family, physicians and previous knowledge were also used to inform food choices. Much of this information was however reported as too little and contradictory. Participants wanted information more specific to pregnant women which was not included in the new food guide.Conclusions: Canada’s new food guide reinforced actions that women were already taking to improve their diet during pregnancy. The new food guide offers broad recommendations for Canadians to follow but pregnant women prefer a guide that is specific with clear recommendations for pregnant women

Chronic Renal Failure, But Why? A Case Report.

Renal failure, both acute and chronic, can present from many different etiologies and if diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, it is commonly assumed to be due to diabetic nephropathy. Monoclonal gammopathy of renal significance (MGRS) is a disorder that combines monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance with end stage renal disease. Monoclonal immunoglobulins are secreted by B or plasma cells leading to deposition in the kidney causing end organ damage. Several different subtypes fall under this category of renal diseases including, but not limited to, amyloidosis, C3 glomeruopathy, and light chain proximal tubulopathy, or better known as Fanconi syndrome1. Fanconi syndrome, which can be acquired or inherited, occurs due to toxicity of the proximal renal tubule in the kidney which leads to hypophosphatemia, hypokalemia, metabolic acidosis due to impaired bicarbonate absorption, impaired glucose and uric acid absorption, and proteinuria. In this case, an 84 year old Caucasian male presented with shortness of breath and weakness. He denied chest pain, hemoptysis, polyuria, and hematuria. His past medical history includes chronic renal disease secondary to well-controlled type II diabetes mellitus (DM), perirenal lymphangiectasis, pulmonary fibrosis, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, hyperlipidemia, and anemia. He had a left radiocephalic AV fistula Permacath placement prior to admission for dialysis. A combined effort from general internal medicine, nephrology, hematology/oncology, cardiology, pulmonary, vascular, infectious disease, radiology, and pathology was made to investigate the patient’s illness over the course of his one-month stay. Though type II DM played a role in the development of this patient’s chronic kidney disease, MGRS is a significant causal factor of the progression to end stage renal disease. Currently, treatment with chemotherapy that targets plasma or B cells can be used for MGRS. Several case studies reported improvement or stabilization of renal function in those treated with chemotherapeutic agents vs. no therapy. (4,5) Though renal transplantation can be done, recurrence post-transplantation is common. (6) The main goal in managing MGRS with Fanconi syndrome is slowing the progression of renal disease and preventing associated extra-renal complications. (7) This case demonstrates the complexities of medical diagnostics and the step-wise progression involved in caring for a patient. It displays the value of interdisciplinary collaboration among different medical specialties to accurately provide patients with an etiology and treatment for their illness and related symptoms

A retrospective study of drug prescribing pattern in burns patients in a tertiary care rural hospital

Background: To study and describe the prevailing prescription trend in burns patients in a tertiary care rural hospital.Methods: This was a retrospective observational study. Total 100 patients diagnosed with burn injury and admitted during Jan 2012 to Dec 2013 were included in the study. The demographic details, details of burn injury & treatment received were obtained from the medical record section of Dhiraj General Hospital, Piparia. Drug prescriptions were analyzed using Microsoft Excel for total number of drugs per prescription, various classes of drugs prescribed and group of antibiotics commonly prescribed.Results: Most common age group affected was 20-40 years. The female to male ratio was 1.8:1. Average number of drugs prescribed was 6.8 with a range of 4-9 drugs per prescription. All prescriptions (100%) contain antimicrobials, analgesics and antiulcer drugs. Among antimicrobials, ceftriaxone was most commonly prescribed followed by amikacin and amoxicillin + clavulanic acid. Only 18% patients were immunized against tetanus.Conclusions: Females are more vulnerable to burn injuries. Polypharmacy was observed in prescriptions. Systemic antibiotic should be used with caution to prevent emergence of resistant microorganisms. Results of the present study indicate that some aspects of drug treatment need to be rationalized in order to achieve better patient care.

Dynamic heterogeneity in polydisperse systems: A comparative study of the role of local structural order parameter and particle size

In polydisperse systems, describing the structure and any structural order parameter (SOP) is not trivial as it varies with the number of species we use to describe the system, M . Depending on the degree of polydispersity, there is an optimum value of M = M0 where we show that the mutual information of the system increases. However, surprisingly the correlation between a recently proposed SOP and the dynamics is highest for M = 1. This effect increases with polydispersity. We find that the SOP at M = 1 is coupled with the particle size, {\sigma}, and this coupling increases with polydispersity and decreases with an increase in M . Careful analysis shows that at lower polydispersity the SOP is a good predictor of the dynamics. However, at higher polydispersity, the dynamics is strongly dependent on {\sigma}. Since the coupling between the SOP and {\sigma} is higher for M = 1 thus, it appears to be a better predictor of the dynamics. We also study the Vibrality an order parameter independent of structural information. Compared to SOP, at high polydispersity we find Vibrality to be a marginally better predictor of the dynamics. However, this high predictive power of Vibrality, which is not there at lower polydispersity, appears to be due to its stronger coupling with {\sigma}. Thus our study suggests that for systems with high polydispersity, the correlation of any order parameter and {\sigma} will affect the correlation between the order parameter and dynamics and need not project a generic predictive power of the order parameter.Comment: 14 pages, 41 figures, 1 tabl

Potential Role of Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin (NGAL) as a Mediator of Liver Injury and Fibrogenesis in Alcoholic Hepatitis

Background: Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is a severe form of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) associated with significant short-term mortality. Existing treatment therapies are not completely effective, highlighting the need to identify molecular drivers in AH. NGAL has recently been identified as one of the most overexpressed genes in patients with AH. Aims: To investigate the role of NGAL as a potential target for therapy in AH using a translational approach including human samples and animal models. Methods: NGAL expression was analyzed in patients with AH, animal models of liver inflammation and fibrogenesis, and cell lines of human hepatocytes. Fibrosis- and inflammation-marker genes were analyzed for expression in hepatic stellate cell (HSC) cell lines treated with NGAL. RNA was extracted from all samples and gene expression of cDNA was measured using real-time qPCR analysis. Results: Gene expression of NGAL in patients with AH had a 44-fold increase in comparison to several other liver diseases. Animal models of liver inflammation and fibrosis had increased NGAL expression. Although cell lines of human hepatocytes exhibited greater NGAL expression than HSC cell lines, there was no noticeable increase in NGAL expression with subsequent pro-inflammatory induction of hepatocyte cell lines. HSC cell lines showed increased expression of several markers of fibrosis and inflammation with NGAL treatment. Conclusion: NGAL is overexpressed in patients with AH and in animal models of liver inflammation and fibrosis and it exerts fibrogenic and inflammatory effects in hepatic stellate cells. Results suggest that NGAL may be a potential target for therapy in AH. Further studies should be done to more fully explore the nature of NGAL overexpression in AH.Bachelor of Science in Public Healt

A Review to Increase the Performance of Solar Still Make It Multi Layer Absorber

Water is the basic need to sustaining life on the earth for human. With the passage of time due to technical usage and their waste disposal along with ignorance of human being caused water pollution, which led the world towards water scarcity. To resolve t his problem Solar Distillation is one of the best Techniques from available another techniques. But, due to its lower productivity it cannot be commercial in the market. So that Lots of work can be done to improve the solar still efficiency or productivity. With the help of past research work we can conclude that if we are using multi layer absorber type solar still than its productivity will going to be increased and reflective radiation losses are covered by this one

A Review to Improve the Productivity of the Hemispherical Type Solar Sill

Water is the basic need for sustaining life on the earth. With the passage of time due to technical usage and their waste disposal along with ignorance of human being caused water pollution, which led the world to water scarcity. To resolve this problem Solar Distillation is one of the best Techniques. But, due to its lower productivity it cannot be commercial in the market. So that Lots of work can be done to improve the solar still efficiency or productivity. With the help of past research work we can conclude that if we are using flat circular based absorber type hemispherical solar still than its productivity will going to be increased

A study of chronic kidney disease patients with no known risk factors coming to tertiary care hospital

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has become a major cause of morbidity and. in some parts of the world CKD incidence has increased regardless of hypertension, diabetes mellitus or metabolic syndrome. This study was done to identify the unknown factors which can be contributing to the increased incidence of CKD.Methods: It was a case control study. There were 61 cases and 50 controls. A detailed history regarding residence, occupation, addiction, drug intake, family history, diet and environmental factors was taken. The data was analysed to identify a common factor amongst the CKD patients who did not have history of any known risk factors of CKD.Results: Age of onset of CKD in 48% of cases was 5 years (30%) as compared to controls. Much more cases as compared to controls gave history of mixed diet (46% vs 26%). Much higher proportion of cases had history of heat exposure, excessive heating and sugarcane exposure (72%, 70% and 48% respectively) as compared to controls.Conclusions: This study supports the association of sugarcane exposure, heat exposure and excessive sweating with CKD and reports a changing trend of renal involvement starting at an earlier age. It highlights need of study with sufficient sample size and greater emphasis on family history, smoking, extent of heat exposure and sugarcane exposure to help identifying area of further research and guide policy making