Investigation to improve cleaning procedure on post-mortem table from cross contamination

Post-mortem examination is a routine procedure carried out by a certified medical officer in the hospital to obtain information about the cause of death or the nature of injuries. During the post-mortem procedure, evidences are collected from the dead body and sent for laboratory analyses. After the post-mortem procedure, the post-mortem table must be washed and cleaned to ensure no contamination for the subsequent procedure. However, it is questionable on the cleanliness of the post-mortem table and the effectiveness of cleaning procedure from biological fluid contamination. The aim of this study was to investigate the effective cleaning procedure on post-mortem table from cross contamination. In this study, discarded blood samples were smeared evenly across a stainless-steel measuring 2100 × 750 × 500 mm size representing the actual post-mortem table. The blood samples on the stainless-steel sheet were cleaned at varying time elapsed such as 3 hours,12 hours, 24 hours, three days and 1week duration. Four different cleaning procedures were carried out, including water wash alone, usage of powder detergent, usage of liquid dishwasher, as well as a combination of powder detergent and household bleach. After each cleaning, the surfaces were sampled and tested with Teichmann reagent. From this study, it was found that cleaning by water wash alone was not effective, showing highest level of blood contamination as compared to other methods. Using powder detergent in combination with household bleach was the most effective and the experiment showed no cross contamination in all the tested samples. This can be concluded using powder detergent with combined of bleach can improve the cleaning methods of the post-mortem table from cross contaminations. A clean and free contamination forensic procedure is important to establish analytical result which can upheld the integrity of forensic analyse

Effect of material and machining features in electric discharge machining of 6061Al/rock dust composites

471-480The current research investigates the effect of electric discharge machining (EDM) and material parameters on material removal rate (MRR), tool wear rate (TWR) and surface roughness (Ra) while machining the novel aluminium rock dust composite. Experiments have been performed in Vidyunt EM 150 EDM machine by considering parameters namely discharge current, pulse ON time, pulse OFF time, reinforcement size and level. The composites have been prepared through stir casting method by reinforcing various sizes (10, 20 & 30 µm) of rock dust particles with aluminium 6061 and at different levels (5, 10 & 15%). Since the number of input parameter is more, Taguchi’s design of experiments has been used to reduce the number of trials and grey relational analysis (GRA) technique has been used for optimization. Analysis of variance has been performed to identify the significance of the parameters and it has been found that all the considered parameters have significant effect on response variables. But in the case of multi performance characteristics analysis, only pulse ON time and pulse OFF time have the significance over GRG. Pulse ON time has the highest influence (55.36 %) on the GRG followed by pulse OFF time with 17.6% and rock dust weight % with 7.8%. From the confirmation experiments, it could be well said that the developed regression equations predicts the response parameters with minimal error and the grey relational grade has been improved significantly

Effect of material and machining features in electric discharge machining of 6061Al/rock dust composites

The current research investigates the effect of electric discharge machining (EDM) and material parameters on material removal rate (MRR), tool wear rate (TWR) and surface roughness (Ra) while machining the novel aluminium rock dust composite. Experiments have been performed in Vidyunt EM 150 EDM machine by considering parameters namely discharge current, pulse ON time, pulse OFF time, reinforcement size and level. The composites have been prepared through stir casting method by reinforcing various sizes (10, 20 & 30 μm) of rock dust particles with aluminium 6061 and at different levels (5, 10 & 15%). Since the number of input parameter is more, Taguchi’s design of experiments has been used to reduce the number of trials and grey relational analysis (GRA) technique has been used for optimization. Analysis of variance has been performed to identify the significance of the parameters and it has been found that all the considered parameters have significant effect on response variables. But in the case of multi performance characteristics analysis, only pulse ON time and pulse OFF time have the significance over GRG. Pulse ON time has the highest influence (55.36 %) on the GRG followed by pulse OFF time with 17.6% and rock dust weight % with 7.8%. From the confirmation experiments, it could be well said that the developed regression equations predicts the response parameters with minimal error and the grey relational grade has been improved significantly

Nature-inspired nano-additives for Biofuel application – A Review

The increasing demand and cost of conventional fuels have forced humanity to consider various alternative fuels. Low yield and massive cost are significant limitations in biofuel production. Nanotechnology has emerged as a prominent research area in the scientific community with a wide range of applications, including biofuels. This review discusses the specific approaches and methods to synthesize nanoparticles from natural materials. In addition, it summarizes the use of nanocatalyst, nano-additives and microbial enzymes to enhance biofuel properties and production processes. This review also highlights the effect of plant-based nanoparticles on diesel engines' combustion performance and emissions

IL10 variant g.5311A is associated with Visceral Leishmaniasis in Indian population

Background: Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a multifactorial disease, where the host genetics play a significant role in determining the disease outcome. The immunological role of anti-inflammatory cytokine, Interleukin 10 (IL10), has been well-documented in parasite infections and considered as a key regulatory cytokine for VL. Although VL patients in India display high level of IL10 in blood serum, no genetic study has been conducted to assess the VL susceptibility/resistance. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the role of IL10 variations in Indian VL; and to estimate the distribution of disease associated allele in diverse Indian populations. Methodology: All the exons and exon-intron boundaries of IL10 were sequenced in 184 VL patients along with 172 ethnically matched controls from VL endemic region of India. Result and Discussion: Our analysis revealed four variations; rs1518111 (2195 A>G, intron), rs1554286 (2607 C>T, intron), rs3024496 (4976 T>C, 3’ UTR) and rs3024498 (5311 A>G, 3’ UTR). Of these, a variant g.5311A is significantly associated with VL (χ2 = 18.87; p = 0.00001). In silico approaches have shown that a putative micro RNA binding site (miR-4321) is lost in rs3024498 mRNA. Further, analysis of the above four variations in 1138 individuals from 34 ethnic populations, representing different social and linguistic groups who are inhabited in different geographical regions of India, showed variable frequency. Interestingly, we have found, majority of the tribal populations have low frequency of VL (‘A’ of rs3024498); and high frequency of leprosy (‘T’ of rs1554286), and Behcet’s (‘A’ of rs1518111) associated alleles, whereas these were vice versa in castes. Our findings suggest that majority of tribal populations of India carry the protected/less severe allele against VL, while risk/more severe allele for leprosy and Behcet’s disease. This study has potential implications in counseling and management of VL and other infectious diseases

Ancient mtDNA from the extinct Indian cheetah supports unexpectedly deep divergence from African cheetahs

Abstract: The Indian cheetah was hunted to extinction by the mid-20th century. While analysis of 139 bp of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has confirmed that the Indian cheetah was part of the Asiatic subspecies (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), the detailed relationships between cheetah populations remains unclear due to limited genetic data. We clarify these relationships by studying larger fragments of cheetah mtDNA, both from an Indian cheetah museum specimen and two African cheetah, one modern and one historic, imported into India at different times. Our results suggest that the most recent common ancestor of cheetah mtDNA is approximately twice as ancient as currently recognised. The Indian and Southeast African (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) cheetah mtDNA diverged approximately 72 kya, while the Southeast and Northeast African (Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii) cheetah mtDNA diverged around 139 kya. Additionally, the historic African cheetah sampled from India proved to have an A. j. jubatus haplotype, suggesting a hitherto unrecognised South African route of cheetah importation into India in the 19th century. Together, our results provide a deeper understanding of the relationships between cheetah subspecies, and have important implications for the conservation of A. j. venaticus and potential reintroduction of cheetahs into India

Ancient mtDNA from the extinct Indian cheetah supports unexpectedly deep divergence from African cheetahs

Abstract: The Indian cheetah was hunted to extinction by the mid-20th century. While analysis of 139 bp of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has confirmed that the Indian cheetah was part of the Asiatic subspecies (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), the detailed relationships between cheetah populations remains unclear due to limited genetic data. We clarify these relationships by studying larger fragments of cheetah mtDNA, both from an Indian cheetah museum specimen and two African cheetah, one modern and one historic, imported into India at different times. Our results suggest that the most recent common ancestor of cheetah mtDNA is approximately twice as ancient as currently recognised. The Indian and Southeast African (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) cheetah mtDNA diverged approximately 72 kya, while the Southeast and Northeast African (Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii) cheetah mtDNA diverged around 139 kya. Additionally, the historic African cheetah sampled from India proved to have an A. j. jubatus haplotype, suggesting a hitherto unrecognised South African route of cheetah importation into India in the 19th century. Together, our results provide a deeper understanding of the relationships between cheetah subspecies, and have important implications for the conservation of A. j. venaticus and potential reintroduction of cheetahs into India

"Like sugar in milk": reconstructing the genetic history of the Parsi population.

BACKGROUND: The Parsis are one of the smallest religious communities in the world. To understand the population structure and demographic history of this group in detail, we analyzed Indian and Pakistani Parsi populations using high-resolution genetic variation data on autosomal and uniparental loci (Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA). Additionally, we also assayed mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms among ancient Parsi DNA samples excavated from Sanjan, in present day Gujarat, the place of their original settlement in India. RESULTS: Among present-day populations, the Parsis are genetically closest to Iranian and the Caucasus populations rather than their South Asian neighbors. They also share the highest number of haplotypes with present-day Iranians and we estimate that the admixture of the Parsis with Indian populations occurred ~1,200 years ago. Enriched homozygosity in the Parsi reflects their recent isolation and inbreeding. We also observed 48% South-Asian-specific mitochondrial lineages among the ancient samples, which might have resulted from the assimilation of local females during the initial settlement. Finally, we show that Parsis are genetically closer to Neolithic Iranians than to modern Iranians, who have witnessed a more recent wave of admixture from the Near East. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are consistent with the historically-recorded migration of the Parsi populations to South Asia in the 7th century and in agreement with their assimilation into the Indian sub-continent's population and cultural milieu "like sugar in milk". Moreover, in a wider context our results support a major demographic transition in West Asia due to the Islamic conquest

Phylogeography of mtDNA haplogroup R7 in the Indian peninsula.

BACKGROUND: Human genetic diversity observed in Indian subcontinent is second only to that of Africa. This implies an early settlement and demographic growth soon after the first 'Out-of-Africa' dispersal of anatomically modern humans in Late Pleistocene. In contrast to this perspective, linguistic diversity in India has been thought to derive from more recent population movements and episodes of contact. With the exception of Dravidian, which origin and relatedness to other language phyla is obscure, all the language families in India can be linked to language families spoken in different regions of Eurasia. Mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome evidence has supported largely local evolution of the genetic lineages of the majority of Dravidian and Indo-European speaking populations, but there is no consensus yet on the question of whether the Munda (Austro-Asiatic) speaking populations originated in India or derive from a relatively recent migration from further East. RESULTS: Here, we report the analysis of 35 novel complete mtDNA sequences from India which refine the structure of Indian-specific varieties of haplogroup R. Detailed analysis of haplogroup R7, coupled with a survey of approximately 12,000 mtDNAs from caste and tribal groups over the entire Indian subcontinent, reveals that one of its more recently derived branches (R7a1), is particularly frequent among Munda-speaking tribal groups. This branch is nested within diverse R7 lineages found among Dravidian and Indo-European speakers of India. We have inferred from this that a subset of Munda-speaking groups have acquired R7 relatively recently. Furthermore, we find that the distribution of R7a1 within the Munda-speakers is largely restricted to one of the sub-branches (Kherwari) of northern Munda languages. This evidence does not support the hypothesis that the Austro-Asiatic speakers are the primary source of the R7 variation. Statistical analyses suggest a significant correlation between genetic variation and geography, rather than between genes and languages. CONCLUSION: Our high-resolution phylogeographic study, involving diverse linguistic groups in India, suggests that the high frequency of mtDNA haplogroup R7 among Munda speaking populations of India can be explained best by gene flow from linguistically different populations of Indian subcontinent. The conclusion is based on the observation that among Indo-Europeans, and particularly in Dravidians, the haplogroup is, despite its lower frequency, phylogenetically more divergent, while among the Munda speakers only one sub-clade of R7, i.e. R7a1, can be observed. It is noteworthy that though R7 is autochthonous to India, and arises from the root of hg R, its distribution and phylogeography in India is not uniform. This suggests the more ancient establishment of an autochthonous matrilineal genetic structure, and that isolation in the Pleistocene, lineage loss through drift, and endogamy of prehistoric and historic groups have greatly inhibited genetic homogenization and geographical uniformity.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are