DIELECTRIC STUDIES IN Li2O AND CoO DOPED BOROPHOSPHATE GLASSES

Borophosphate glasses in the compositions, (B2O3)0.2 . (P2O5)0.3 . (Li2O) 0.5-X . (CoO) X, wherex = 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.25, 0.30, 0.35, 0.40 and 0.45 were prepared at 1400K by following melt quenching method. Their amorphous nature was confirmed by XRD studies and was investigated for dielectric properties in the frequency range from 100Hz to 1MHz and temperature range from 300K to 573K. The conductivity was derived from the dielectric spectrum. The frequency exponent, s, dc and ac components of the conductivity were determined. The temperature dependence of conductivity at different frequencies was analyzed using Motts small polaron hopping model, and the high temperature activation energy has been estimated and discussed. The variation of conductivity and activation energy with composition revealed a changeover of conduction mechanism from predominantly ionic to electronic regime for mole fractions of CoO between 0.3 and 0.35. This is a new result. Hunts model has been employed to analyze frequency dependence of conductivity. Relaxation features of the dielectric properties have been extracted from the analysis of electric moduli with frequency. Activation energy for relaxation mechanism has been determined. Frequency exponent was found to be temperature dependent. Quantum mechanical theory and correlated barrier hopping models were found to be inadequate to explain frequency exponent behavior with temperature. For the first time that borophosphate glasses doped with Li2O and CoO were studied for dielectric properties and ac conductivity as a function of temperature and frequency and the data has been analysed thoroughly.  &nbsp

Design and Fabrication of Self-Charging Bi-Cycle with Power Saving Application using Solar Panel

With the increase in fuel prices, pollution content in atmosphere and due to gradual end of the nonrenewable sources of energy we have to alter the source of our energy in our vehicles. Now a day’s Bicycles are more commonly used by the youngsters and school students.  At the same time demand of electricity is vital problem in these days and that of the humans becoming tired when pedalling the bicycles to reduce all these problems. We are implementing a self-charging bicycle. The model converts mechanical energy into electrical energy without pollution.

Geriatric prescription analysis with respect to “STOPP” and “START” criteria: a descriptive study in the Indian scenario

Background: Patients; sixty-five years of age and above, are a special risk group as far as drug prescribing is concerned. Prescription irregularities in such patients may be hazardous. STOPP/START criteria are considered as the most up to-date set of explicit criteria for evaluating geriatric prescriptions. To analyse geriatric prescriptions in a tertiary care centre with respect to STOPP/START criteria and WHO core drug prescribing indicators so as to get an idea of pattern of drug prescription in geriatric patients as well as frequency of potentially inappropriate prescriptions. Descriptive cross-sectional study in a tertiary care hospital.Methods: All inpatients aged 65 years and above who were prescribed at least one allopathic medication and consented to participate in the study were included and patients admitted for medical emergencies were excluded. Demographic data and details of drugs prescribed were collected from prescription chits and indoor case papers.Results: There was a high frequency of polypharmacy, prescription of antimicrobials and injections. Proportion of patients receiving at least one potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) as per STOPP criteria was 21.01%. Proportion of patients subjected to at least one potential prescribing omission (PPO) as per START criteria was 33.33%. Proportion of patients exposed to potentially inappropriate drug prescriptions as a whole (PIPs=PIMs+PPOs) was 46.37%. Statistical analysis used as descriptive statistics like numbers and percentages were used for data analysis.Conclusions: With regards to geriatric prescribing, adherence to WHO core prescribing indicators, prescription of drugs as per STOPP and START guidelines are indicative of scope for improvement

Current pattern of adverse drug reactions to anti-retroviral therapy in an antiretroviral therapy centre attached to a government medical college of Maharashtra, India: a retrospective study

Background: Antiretroviral drug therapy (ART) has brought a ray of hope to people living with HIV/AIDS. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) can often cause significant morbidity among individuals on ART, occasionally leading to mortality. The present study was conducted to assess the nature, causality, severity of ADRs to ART, and to identify risk factors for ADRs in HIV-positive patients receiving ART in India.Methods: A total of 109 patients reported with ADRs to ART during July 2015-December 2015 were randomly included in a retrospective observational study conducted at an ART center attached to a government medical college of Maharashtra. Causality and severity assessment of ADRs was done by using Naranjo’s ADR Causality scale and Modified Hartwig and Siegel scale respectively. The data was computed using MS Excel and descriptive results were expressed as counts and percentages. The study was approved by Institutional Ethics Committee.Results: Among 109 patients, females (60.55%) had higher prevalence of ADRs than males (39.45%). A total of 132 ADRs were reported. Anemia (76.52%) was the commonest ADR reported followed by skin rash (11.36%) and raised renal function tests (6.06%). Zidovudine + Lamivudine + Nevirapine (ZLN) were the commonest ART regimen causing anemia as ADR.Conclusions: Reporting of ADRs is a very inefficient system in detecting drug-related conditions, leading to underestimation of the burden due to ADRs in India. A well-structured, efficient pharmacovigilance systems, which assesses and monitor safety profile and impact of antiretroviral medicines is very much needed at present in India

A study of adverse drug reactions in patients receiving treatment for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis

Background: A high frequency of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is one of the major challenges in the treatment of Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Patients may refuse to continue treatment if ADRs are not properly addressed, drugs may be stopped unnecessarily and treatment may be terminated prematurely by inexperienced health workers, resulting in a high proportion of failure.Methods: Patients diagnosed for MDR-TB and registered in Drug Resistant TB centre (DR-TB) of tertiary care hospital during period of July 2014 to June 2015 were enrolled in the study. Data of patients hospitalized for the complaints of ADR in DR-TB centre during study period was collected.Results: Out of 468 patients, 60 (12.82%) patients developed at least one adverse reaction and were hospitalised for the same. Among 109 reported ADRs, Gastrointestinal upset was the most common ADR reported (5.98%) followed by psychosis (4.91%) and ototoxicity (2.99%).Conclusions: The health providers, the patients and their relatives should be sensitised about these ADRs for early detection and treatment. It can also be suggested that the setup of DR-TB centre should be integrated with psychiatry and ENT specialities, with all the provisions of early detection of ADR and treatment

High sensitivity C - reactive protein (hs-CRP) and clinical characteristics, endocrine, metabolic profile in Indian women with PCOS: a correlation

Background: Role of hs-CRP was studied in PCOS women.Methods: Correlation between serum hs-CRP and endocrine, metabolic profile was studied in 30 healthy women and 88 PCOS women. In PCOS women correlation between hs-CRP and clinical characteristics viz obesity, infertility, acne, hirsutism, acanthosis nigricans (AN) was also studied. Serum levels of hs-CRP, Luteinizing hormone (LH), Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), LH:FSH ratio, Testosterone (Testo), fasting insulin, fasting blood glucose (FBG), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (Tg), low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL) and Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA) were estimated.Results: Mean serum hs-CRP in PCOS women was higher than that in control women (6.9 ± SE 0.84 v/s 2.0 ± SE 0.19mg/L, P=0.005).  In PCOS group overweight/obese had higher hs-CRP as compared to normal weight women (P=0.0051). In control group hs-CRP was positively correlated with age (r=0.385 p=0.035) and LDL (r=0.38 P=0.036). PCOS women showed positive correlation between hs-CRP and cholesterol, LDL, fasting insulin, HOMA. PCOS women showed a significant negative correlation between hs-CRP and LH. AN positive PCOS women showed higher serum hs-CRP levels as compared to AN negative PCOS women (11 ± SE 0.7 v/s 5.5 ± SE 2.3, P=0.0439).Conclusions: Serum hs-CRP is raised in Indian PCOS women reflecting association of low grade chronic inflammation. A positive correlation is present between hs-CRP and AN, insulin in PCOS women and obesity may aggravate this association. A positive correlation between hs-CRP and TC, LDL in the background of normal lipid profile is suggestive of precedence of chronic inflammation over dyslipidemia in PCOS

Serum lipid profile in non-polycystic ovary syndrome and polycystic ovary syndrome women: a comparative and correlational study

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), in addition to impaired ovulation, also affects metabolic pathways. Dyslipidemia, occurring in PCOS women leads to cardiovascular diseases in them. The purpose of the present study was to compare lipid profile and its correlation with biochemical and hormonal parameters in PCOS and non PCOS women, to analyse the correlation of lipid profile with hirsutism and body mass index (BMI) in PCOS women.Methods: The present study includes 68 women divided into non PCOS groups (n=30) and PCOS (n=38) as defined by Rotterdam criteria. PCOS group further divided into overweight / obese (n=23) and normal weight subgroups (n=15). Lipid profile, fasting blood glucose and hormonal profile were done in all the groups.Results: TG and TC/HDL ratio were significantly high in PCOS group. Hirsute patients had raised LDL levels as compared to non-hirsute. LDL showed positive significant correlation with insulin, HOMA, testosterone in PCOS group. TC was significantly positively correlated with insulin and HOMA in PCOS group. In both normal weight and overweight / obese PCOS subgroups, LDL had positive and significant correlation with testosterone. TC showed positive and significant correlation with HOMA in overweight/obese subgroup. HDL showed positive and highly significant correlation with FSH in normal weight PCOS.Conclusions: Hyperandrogenism in PCOS may be additionally marked by raised LDL. Overweight/obese PCOS subgroup may be prone to dyslipidemia as well as deranged glucose homeostasis, thereby making it an important therapeutic target

Performance Analysis Of SRAM and Dram in Low Power Application

All electronic systems must function quickly in the current environment, and 80 percent of electronic chips have memory components. SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) has thus become a major key component in many VLSI Chips in order to reduce the size of the memory chips, to increase the speed, to reduce leakage current, and to increase the power efficiency. Due to its high storage density and quick access time, it has also become a popular data storage device. SRAM has been given priority in the research community due to the recent sharp development in low power and low voltage memory devices. In this study, the design and performance of SRAM and DRAM cells were analyzed. This paper outlines the development and application of modified 6T SRAM cell with increased power efficiency

Comparison of cardiovascular safety of escitalopram and sertraline based on electrocardiographic alterations: a pharmacovigilance study

Background: Escitalopram and sertraline are the most commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs, belongs to SSRI class. Both the drugs are long been considered as free from cardiovascular adverse effects. Recently number of studies reported potential association between these drugs and pronounced cardiovascular adverse effects. ECG changes like prolongation of QT interval are frequently used as markers for the increased risk of a fatal cardiac arrhythmia. The potential cardiovascular adverse reaction profile of both these drugs is little studied in Indian rural population.Methods: This was a 6 weeks prospective open label observational study carried out in a drug naive 209 patients receiving either escitalopram (n=106) or sertraline (n=103). ECG parameters like heart rate, RR interval, PQ/PR interval, QRS duration and QTc interval, were obtained directly from the digital machine recordings, additionally the QT interval was measured manually with the help of caliper. Statistical analysis was done by using Statistical software SPSS 17.0.Results: Out of 209 drugs naive patients, 12 from escitalopram group and 10 patients from Sertraline were lost to follow-up. Hence ECG recordings of the remaining 94 patients under escitalopram group, 93 patients under sertraline group were used for study analysis. The ECG alterations caused by the escitalopram were compared with that caused by sertraline. It was observed that the differences between the ECG alterations caused by either of escitalopram or sertraline were statistically non-significant.Conclusions: It was concluded, at therapeutic doses neither of the drugs have the potential risk of drug induced arrhythmias, throughout the study. 

Anion-induced ferroelectric polarization in a luminescent metal–organic cage compound

A cage assembly consisting of an axially symmetric nonpolar octahedral [Zn6L8] core exhibits an interesting multifunctional luminescence and ferroelectric order at room temperature. The ferroelectric response originates from the toggling of nitrate anions and solvate molecules found in pockets between the cages.</p