Design Guidelines for In-Plane Mechanical Properties of SiC Fiber-Reinforced Melt-Infiltrated SiC Composites

In-plane tensile stress-strain, tensile creep, and after-creep retained tensile properties of melt-infiltrated SiC-SiC composites reinforced with different fiber types were evaluated with an emphasis on obtaining simple or first-order microstructural design guidelines for these in-plane mechanical properties. Using the mini-matrix approach to model stress-strain behavior and the results of this study, three basic general design criteria for stress and strain limits are formulated, namely a design stress limit, a design total strain limit, and an after-creep design retained strength limit. It is shown that these criteria can be useful for designing components for high temperature applications

A quasi-experimental study to assess the effect of a local anesthetic proparacaine on tropicamide-induced pupillary dilation

Background: Dilating the pupil is one of the most commonly practiced methods among ophthalmologists to examine the eye especially the posterior segment of the eye. Here we conducted a study to know the clinical effect of proparacaine, a local anesthetic, on tropicamide-induced pupillary dilation.Methods: A Quasi-experimental study was conducted on 57 subjects aged between 20 and 70 years. Study was done over a period of 3 months (February 14 - April 14) at a tertiary health care center in Bagalkot after obtaining institutional ethical committee clearance. Proparacaine was instilled in one eye (right eye) before instilling tropicamide and the other eye with a placebo (normal saline). Pupil diameter was measured using a pupillary gauge at 0, 15, and 30 mins. Results were analyzed using unpaired Student’s t-test.Results: The mean clinically efficient pupillary diameter at the end of 15 mins in proparacaine instilled eye was 5.56±0.5 and in control eye was 5.25±0.45 mm with t value 8.13 (p<0.001) which was statistically significant. And at the end of 30 mins pupillary diameter in the study group was 7.96±0.43 mm and in the control group was 7.83±0.43 mm with t value of 4.115 (p<0.001) which was also statistically significant.Conclusions: Therefore, we do recommend the use of proparacaine before instilling tropicamide for faster pupillary dilation

DESIGN, SYNTHESIS AND IN VITRO ANTI-CANCER ACTIVITY OF NOVEL 1,2,4-TRIAZOLE DERIVATIVES

Objective: DNA topoisomerase is one of the important targets for anticancer agents. Many triazole derivatives have been shown to possess cytotoxic activity. In this paper, we present the design and in silico docking of a virtual library of molecules with DNA topoisomerase II along with their synthesis and In vitro cytotoxicity profile. Methods: Sybyl X 2.1 programmesss were used to perform the docking experiments on DNA topoisomerase II using etoposide as ligand. In vitro anticancer activity was carried out by trypan blue exclusion assay against EAC cells. DNA fragmentation studies were performed by Gel electrophoresis to identify the cause of cell death induced by these compounds. Results: Among the compounds studied for docking, 12c generated the highest docking score (13.66) and showed hydrogen bonding interactions with glycine 778 at a distance of 1.879 A˚. the compounds 12c &amp; 12g showed the highest level of cytotoxicity with IC50 value of 0.55 μM and 0.62 μM respectively. Compounds 12c and12g were subjected to DNA fragmentation studies to identify the cause of cell death induced by these compounds. Gel electrophoresis of these compounds showed a typical feature of apoptosis ladders in agarose gel. Compound 12c was able to induce apoptosis at a concentration of about 3 μM. Conclusion: A series of bis-triazoles were synthesized targeted to DNA topoisomerase II and evaluated their In vitro cytotoxicity. The compound 12c was found to be most active and also exhibited apoptosis inducing potential

Telemedicine During COVID-19 and Beyond: A Practical Guide and Best Practices Multidisciplinary Approach for the Orthopedic and Neurologic Pain Physical Examination.

BACKGROUND:The COVID pandemic has impacted almost every aspect of human interaction, causing global changes in financial, health care, and social environments for the foreseeable future. More than 1.3 million of the 4 million cases of COVID-19 confirmed globally as of May 2020 have been identified in the United States, testing the capacity and resilience of our hospitals and health care workers. The impacts of the ongoing pandemic, caused by a novel strain of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), have far-reaching implications for the future of our health care system and how we deliver routine care to patients. The adoption of social distancing during this pandemic has demonstrated efficacy in controlling the spread of this virus and has been the only proven means of infection control thus far. Social distancing has prompted hospital closures and the reduction of all non-COVID clinical visits, causing widespread financial despair to many outpatient centers. However, the need to treat patients for non-COVID problems remains important despite this pandemic, as care must continue to be delivered to patients despite their ability or desire to report to outpatient centers for their general care. Our national health care system has realized this need and has incentivized providers to adopt distance-based care in the form of telemedicine and video medicine visits. Many institutions have since incorporated these into their practices without financial penalty because of Medicare\u27s 1135 waiver, which currently reimburses telemedicine at the same rate as evaluation and management codes (E/M Codes). Although the financial burden has been alleviated by this policy, the practitioner remains accountable for providing proper assessment with this new modality of health care delivery. This is a challenge for most physicians, so our team of national experts has created a reference guide for musculoskeletal and neurologic examination selection to retrofit into the telemedicine experience. OBJECTIVES:To describe and illustrate musculoskeletal and neurologic examination techniques that can be used effectively in telemedicine. STUDY DESIGN:Consensus-based multispecialty guidelines. SETTING:Tertiary care center. METHODS:Literature review of the neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, lumbar, hip, and knee physical examinations were performed. A multidisciplinary team comprised of physical medicine and rehabilitation, orthopedics, rheumatology, neurology, and anesthesia experts evaluated each examination and provided consensus opinion to select the examinations most appropriate for telemedicine evaluation. The team also provided consensus opinion on how to modify some examinations to incorporate into a nonhealth care office setting. RESULTS:Sixty-nine examinations were selected by the consensus team. Household objects were identified that modified standard and validated examinations, which could facilitate the examinations.The consensus review team did not believe that the modified tests altered the validity of the standardized tests. LIMITATIONS:Examinations selected are not validated for telemedicine. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were not performed. CONCLUSIONS:The physical examination is an essential component for sound clinical judgment and patient care planning. The physical examinations described in this manuscript provide a comprehensive framework for the musculoskeletal and neurologic examination, which has been vetted by a committee of national experts for incorporation into the telemedicine evaluation

Synthesis and Photoluminescence Property of Silicon Carbide Nanowires Via Carbothermic Reduction of Silica

Silicon carbide nanowires have been synthesized at 1400 °C by carbothermic reduction of silica with bamboo carbon under normal atmosphere pressure without metallic catalyst. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy were used to characterize the silicon carbide nanowires. The results show that the silicon carbide nanowires have a core–shell structure and grow along <111> direction. The diameter of silicon carbide nanowires is about 50–200 nm and the length from tens to hundreds of micrometers. The vapor–solid mechanism is proposed to elucidate the growth process. The photoluminescence of the synthesized silicon carbide nanowires shows significant blueshifts, which is resulted from the existence of oxygen defects in amorphous layer and the special rough core–shell interface

Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.

BACKGROUND: Global development goals increasingly rely on country-specific estimates for benchmarking a nation's progress. To meet this need, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2016 estimated global, regional, national, and, for selected locations, subnational cause-specific mortality beginning in the year 1980. Here we report an update to that study, making use of newly available data and improved methods. GBD 2017 provides a comprehensive assessment of cause-specific mortality for 282 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1980 to 2017. METHODS: The causes of death database is composed of vital registration (VR), verbal autopsy (VA), registry, survey, police, and surveillance data. GBD 2017 added ten VA studies, 127 country-years of VR data, 502 cancer-registry country-years, and an additional surveillance country-year. Expansions of the GBD cause of death hierarchy resulted in 18 additional causes estimated for GBD 2017. Newly available data led to subnational estimates for five additional countries-Ethiopia, Iran, New Zealand, Norway, and Russia. Deaths assigned International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes for non-specific, implausible, or intermediate causes of death were reassigned to underlying causes by redistribution algorithms that were incorporated into uncertainty estimation. We used statistical modelling tools developed for GBD, including the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm), to generate cause fractions and cause-specific death rates for each location, year, age, and sex. Instead of using UN estimates as in previous versions, GBD 2017 independently estimated population size and fertility rate for all locations. Years of life lost (YLLs) were then calculated as the sum of each death multiplied by the standard life expectancy at each age. All rates reported here are age-standardised

Melt-infiltrated Sic Composites for Gas Turbine Engine Applications

SiC-SiC ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) manufactured by the slurry -cast melt-infiltration (MI) process are leading candidates for many hot-section turbine engine components. A collaborative program between Goodrich Corporation and NASA-Glenn Research Center is aimed at determining and optimizing woven SiC/SiC CMC performance and reliability. A variety of composites with different fiber types, interphases and matrix compositions have been fabricated and evaluated. Particular focus of this program is on the development of interphase systems that will result in improved intermediate temperature stressed-oxidation properties of this composite system. The effect of the different composite variations on composite properties is discussed and, where appropriate, comparisons made to properties that have been generated under NASA's Ultra Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) Program

Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management on Red Leaf Index, Insect Pest and Disease in Cotton and Soybean Intercropping System

A field experiment was conducted at All India Coordinated Research Project on Soybean, Main Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka, India to study the integrated nutrient management practices on red leaf index, insect pest and disease in cotton and soybean intercropping system in 1:2 row proportion during June 2016. The study was undertaken to evaluate the sources of nutrients to red leaf index and incidence of insect pest and diseases. The field experiment was laid out in randomised complete block design with three replications and twenty treatments. Treatment comprised of organic and inorganic sources of nutrients used in different combinations. Soybean introduced as intercrop in cotton with 40 x 10 cm spacing for soybean and 120 x 60 cm for cotton. Results found that there was no visual symptoms of leaf reddening at October 1st&nbsp;and lowest red leaf index was observed in T17&nbsp;(T1&nbsp;+ Vermicompost 1.25 t ha-1&nbsp;+ Gliricidia 2.5 t ha-1). Lower incidence of&nbsp;Spodoptera&nbsp;larvae (Spodoptera litura&nbsp;Fabricius) was observed in T16&nbsp;(T1&nbsp;+ Gliricidia 2.5 t ha-1&nbsp;+ Pongamia 2.5 t ha-1), T17&nbsp;(T1&nbsp;+ Vermicompost 1.25 t ha-1&nbsp;+ Gliricidia 2.5 t ha-1) and T18&nbsp;(T1&nbsp;+ Vermicompost 1.25 t ha-1&nbsp;+ Pongamia 2.5 t ha-1) at 40 DAS. Lowest pod borer (Cydia ptychora&nbsp;Meyr.) incidence was observed in T18&nbsp;compared to other treatments. Lower per cent disease incidence of angular leaf spot of cotton was observed in T18&nbsp;than other treatments at 85 DAS. Lower per cent disease incidence of&nbsp;Alternaria&nbsp;leaf blight of cotton was observed in T16, T17&nbsp;and T18&nbsp;compared to other treatments at 65 days after sowing. Integrated nutrient management in cotton and soybean intercropping systems reduced the red leaf index and provide resistance to crop to withstand against insect pest and disease

Damping behavior of hybrid composites- A Review

Damping is an important parameter that needs to be considered in design of components made up of composites for use in aerospace, naval, automotive applications subjected to dynamic loads for controlling the vibrations and thereby extending the service life of component. Passive and active vibrations damping are two main approaches used for enhancing the damping effect of structural composites. Though conventional composite material exhibits internal damping, the amount of damping is not sufficient for reducing vibration and noise. There is a need to explore methods of enhancing passive damping in composite materials for use in high speed engineering applications exposed to dynamic loads. Hybridization of composites for improvement in damping along with balanced mechanical properties at optimum cost is relatively a new concept in design of composite structures subjected to dynamic load. By using different combinations of fibers, the stacking sequence, fiber orientations, volume fraction the hybrid composites can be tailored to provide improved damping compared to conventional composites.  The purpose of this paper is to present a review on the available literature on damping behavior for Hybrid composite

Crystal structure of 6,6′-dimethyl-2H,2′H-3,4′-bichromene-2,2′-dione

In the title compound, C20H14O4, the dihedral angle between the two coumarin ring systems is 52.37 (19)°, showing a gauche arrangement across the C—C bond which links the two units. The carbonyl groups of the two coumarin units adopt an s-trans arrangement. In the crystal, pairs of C—H...O hydrogen bonds and π–π interactions [centroid–centroid distance = 3.631 (2) Å] connect the molecules into inversion dimers