Prevalence of intestinal parasites among patients of a tertiary hospital in Ambala city, Haryana, India

Background: Intestinal parasitic infestation is major public health problem in the world. Gastrointestinal (GI) protozoa and helminthes flourish in settings characterized by warm temperatures, humidity, poor sanitation, dirty water, and substandard and crowded housing. Various sanitation programmes are launched in India from time to time. Our present study was conducted to know the prevalence of Intestinal parasitism among patients with gastrointestinal symptoms in rural area surrounding Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India; which will tell us about the effect of these sanitation programmes in this area.Methods: The present study was conducted between November 2010 to August 2012 in the Department of Microbiology, Maharishi Markandeshwar Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana. Specimen was stool of the patient. The study was conducted on 500 consecutive stool samples received in the Department of Microbiology and processed as per departmental protocol.Results: Total of 500 consecutive stool samples were processed within a period of 21 months (November 2010 to August 2012). The overall prevalence of intestinal parasite infections was 7.8%. Giardia lamblia 12 (30.76) was the most common parasite followed by E. histolytica 7(17.9) among protozoa and H.nana 4(10.25) followed by Ascaris lumbricoids 3(7.69) among helminths.Conclusions: The decrease in prevalence of intestinal parasites especially in soil-transmitted helminths in patients attending hospital evidences the success of sanitation programmes, health education, improved sanitation and a healthy lifestyle.

Preliminary study of feasibility of an experiment looking for excited state double beta transitions in tin

An attempt to study the feasibility of a new experiment to search for double beta decay in $^{112}$Sn and $^{124}$Sn was carried out by using ultra-low background HPGe detector (244 cm$^{3}$) inside the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS) of the INFN (Italy). A small sample of natural Sn was examined for 2367.5 h. The radioactive contamination of the sample has been estimated. The data has also been considered to calculate the present sensitivity for the proposed search; half-life limits $\sim$ $10^{17} - 10^{18}$ years for $\beta^{+}$EC and EC-EC processes in $^{112}$Sn and $\sim$ $10^{18}$ years for $\beta^{-}\beta^{-}$ transition in $^{124}$Sn were measured. In the last section of the paper the enhancement of the sensitivity for a proposed experiment with larger mass to reach theoretically estimated values of half-lives is discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in NIMA (in press

The 0+→0+0^{+}\to 0^{+} positron double-β\beta decay with emission of two neutrinos in the nuclei 96^{96}Ru, 102^{102}Pd, 106^{106}Cd and 108^{108}Cd

Theoretical results for %the $0^{+}\to 0^{+}$ positron double-$\beta$ decay with emission of two neutrinos in the nuclei $^{96}$Ru, $^{102}$Pd, $^{106}$Cd and $^{108}$Cd are presented. The study employs the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov model to obtain the wave functions of the parent and daughter nuclei, in conjunction with the summation method to estimate the double beta decay nuclear matrix elements. The reliability of the intrinsic wave functions of $^{96,102}$Ru, $$Mo, $^{102,106,108}$Pd and $^{106,108}$Cd nuclei are tested by comparing the theoretically calculated spectroscopic properties with the available experimental data. Calculated half-lives $T_{1/2}^{2\nu}$ of $^{96}$Ru, $^{102}$Pd, $^{106}$Cd and $^{108}$Cd nuclei for 2$\nu$ $\beta ^{+}\beta ^{+}$, 2$\nu$ $\beta ^{+}EC$ and 2$\nu$ $ECEC$ modes are presented. The effect of deformation on the nuclear transition matrix element $M_{2\nu}$ is also studied.Comment: Submitted to EPJ

A note on the Gauss decomposition of the elliptic Cauchy matrix

Explicit formulas for the Gauss decomposition of elliptic Cauchy type matrices are derived in a very simple way. The elliptic Cauchy identity is an immediate corollary.Comment: 5 page

Rotational Bands and Electromagnetic Transitions of some even-even Neodymium Nuclei in J-Projected Hartree-Fock Model

Rotational structures of even-even $^{148-160}$Nd nuclei are studied with the self-consistent deformed Hartree-Fock (HF) and angular momentum (J) projection model. Spectra of ground band, recently observed $K=4^{-}$, $K=5^{-}$ and a few more excited, positive and negative parity bands have been studied upto high spin values. Apart from these detailed electromagnetic properties (like E2, M1 matrix elements) of all the bands have been obtained. There is substantial agreement between our model calculations and available experimental data. Predictions are made about the band structures and electromagnetic properties of these nuclei. Some 4-qasiparticle K-isomeric bands and their electromagnetic properties are predicted.Comment: 20 page

Higher order Jordan Osserman Pseudo-Riemannian manifolds

We study the higher order Jacobi operator in pseudo-Riemannian geometry. We exhibit a family of manifolds so that this operator has constant Jordan normal form on the Grassmannian of subspaces of signature (r,s) for certain values of (r,s). These pseudo-Riemannian manifolds are new and non-trivial examples of higher order Osserman manifolds

New limit for the half-life of double beta decay of 94^{94}Zr to the first excited state of 94^{94}Mo

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay is a phenomenon of fundamental interest in particle physics. The decay rates of double beta decay transitions to the excited states can provide input for Nuclear Transition Matrix Element calculations for the relevant two neutrino double beta decay process. It can be useful as supplementary information for the calculation of Nuclear Transition Matrix Element for the neutrinoless double beta decay process. In the present work, double beta decay of $^{94}$Zr to the $2^{+}_{1}$ excited state of $^{94}$Mo at 871.1 keV is studied using a low background $\sim$ 230 cm$^3$ HPGe detector. No evidence of this decay was found with a 232 g.y exposure of natural Zirconium. The lower half-life limit obtained for the double beta decay of $\rm^{94}Zr$ to the $2^{+}_{1}$ excited state of $\rm^{94}Mo$ is $T_{1/2} (0\nu + 2\nu)> 3.4 \times 10^{19}$ y at 90% C.L., an improvement by a factor of $\sim$ 4 over the existing experimental limit at 90\% C.L. The sensitivity is estimated to be $T_{1/2} (0\nu + 2\nu) > 2.0\times10^{19}$ y at 90% C.L. using the Feldman-Cousins method.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, Accepted in Eur. Phys. J.