Quantitative Risk Assessment in Titanium Sponge Plant

This pap& presents the quantitative risk assessment for the storage of titanium tetrachloride (TiCl,).It is the major reactant used for the production of titanium in the titanium spongeplant. Titanium tetrachloride readily reacts with moisture, leading to the release of toxic hydrogen chloride (HCI).F ire explosive and toxicity index analysis, and hazard and operability(HAZOP) studies for the entire titanium sponge plant were carried out. Based on these studies, the TiCl, storage section was found to be one of the most hazardous sections in the titaniumsponge plant. Fault tree analysis technique has been used to identify the basic events responsible for the top event occurrence, ie, release of HCl due to the hydrolysis of TiCl, upon contactwith moisture in the environment during spillagelleakage of TiCl, from the storage tanks and to calculate its probability. Consequence analysis of the probable scenarios has been carriedout. The risk has been estimated in terms of fatality.and injuries. Based on these results, basic input in the form of recommendations for possible changes in the design and operation of thetitanium sponge plant have been made for the risk management

Low-cost Adsorbents for the Removal of Mercury (11) from Aqueous Solution-A Comparative Study

The establishments of the Ministry of Defence, specifically ordnance factories and public sector undertakings (like Bharat Electronics Ltd), carry out operations like electroplating, metal1surface finishing, solid-state wafer processing, and initiatory manufacturing (lead azide, mercury fulminate), which generate waste water contaminated with hazardous heavy metals. Mercuryand its compounds are known to be highly toxic, both for the living organisms and theenvironment. To protect public health, a regulatory discharge standard of mercury, as low as 0.01 mgll, has been imposed and is expected to be even stricter in the future. A promising method for effective mercury discharge control is to employ suitable adsorbents for the removal of mercury from the contaminated aqueous stream.This paper describes the effectiveness of low cost and locally available, untreated and chemically-treated adsorbents for the removal of mercury from the aqueous solution. Their effectiveness has been compared with that of chemically-treated granular activated carbon. Treated sawdust and untreated weathered coal were found to be the most suitable low-cost adsorbents in addition to treated granular activated carbon for the removal of mercury from aqueous solution. Under the optimised conditions, ie, adsorbent dose 10 gll, pH 6, contact time 48 h, and initial concentration of mercury 3 mgll, the removal of mercury was found to be 99.8 per cent, 99.8 per cent, and 99.7per cent, using treated granular activated carbon, treated sawhust, and untreated weathered coal, respectively.The adsorption parameters were determined using both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Surface complexation and ion exchange were the major removal mechanisms involved.The adsorption isotherm studies clearly indicated that the Langmuir model is in good agreement, with the experimental data on the adsorptive behaviour of mercury on treated granular activated carbon, whereas, the experimental data on adsorptive behaviour of mercury on weathered coal and treated sawdust follow both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The paper presents the results of the experimental studies as well as the model parameters

Behaviour of a Blast Loaded Laced Reinforced Concrete Structure

According to existing provisions, large separation distance has to be maintained between two conventional explosive storage structures to prevent sympathetic detonation. In this paper, reduction of the separation distance with the use of earth covered laced reinforced concrete (LRC) storage structure is demonstrated, which will result in saving of land cost. Details of blast resistant design of 75T (NEC) storage structure based on unit risk principle are presented. Performance of the storage structure is evaluated in an actual blast trial. Strain and deflection profiles are obtained from the trial. Based on these, the storage structure is found to be re-usable after the blast trial.Defence Science Journal, 2012, 62(5), pp.284-289, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.62.82

Redefining palliative care-a new consensus-based definition

Context: The International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care developed a consensus-based definition of palliative care (PC) that focuses on the relief of serious health-related suffering, a concept put forward by the Lancet Commission Global Access to Palliative Care and Pain Relief. Objective: The main objective of this article is to present the research behind the new definition. Methods: The three-phased consensus process involved health care workers from countries in all income levels. In Phase 1, 38 PC experts evaluated the components of the World Health Organization definition and suggested new/revised ones. In Phase 2, 412 International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care members in 88 countries expressed their level of agreement with the suggested components. In Phase 3, using results from Phase 2, the expert panel developed the definition. Results: The consensus-based definition is as follows: Palliative care is the active holistic care of individuals across all ages with serious health-related suffering due to severe illness and especially of those near the end of life. It aims to improve the quality of life of patients, their families and their caregivers. The definition includes a number of bullet points with additional details as well as recommendations for governments to reduce barriers to PC. Conclusion: Participants had significantly different perceptions and interpretations of PC. The greatest challenge faced by the core group was trying to find a middle ground between those who think that PC is the relief of all suffering and those who believe that PC describes the care of those with a very limited remaining life span

Redefining Palliative CaredA New Consensus-Based Definition

Context. The International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care developed a consensus-based definition of palliative care (PC) that focuses on the relief of serious health-related suffering, a concept put forward by the Lancet Commission Global Access to Palliative Care and Pain Relief. Objective. The main objective of this article is to present the research behind the new definition. Methods. The three-phased consensus process involved health care workers from countries in all income levels. In Phase 1, 38 PC experts evaluated the components of the World Health Organization definition and suggested new/revised ones. In Phase 2, 412 International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care members in 88 countries expressed their level of agreement with the suggested components. In Phase 3, using results from Phase 2, the expert panel developed the definition. Results. The consensus-based definition is as follows: Palliative care is the active holistic care of individuals across all ages with serious health-related suffering due to severe illness and especially of those near the end of life. It aims to improve the quality of life of patients, their families and their caregivers. The definition includes a number of bullet points with additional details as well as recommendations for governments to reduce barriers to PC. Conclusion. Participants had significantly different perceptions and interpretations of PC. The greatest challenge faced by the core group was trying to find a middle ground between those who think that PC is the relief of all suffering and those who believe that PC describes the care of those with a very limited remaining life span

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Multiple roles for the cytosolic domain of peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase (PAM)

Neuropeptides play an essential role in maintaining homeostasis. Therefore a thorough understanding of the mechanisms involved in the synthesis, trafficking, stimulated secretion and feedback regulation of secretory granules that store neuropeptides is crucial. Peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase (PAM), an integral protein of the secretory granule membrane, catalyzes neuropeptide amidation, a modification essential for bioactivity. Targeted deletion of PAM causes embryonic lethality. Mice with a single copy of PAM exhibit increased anxiety-like behavior and seizure sensitivity but only minor deficits in peptide amidation, suggesting additional regulatory roles for PAM in secretory granule function. ^ PAM is composed of a bifunctional enzymatic domain, a transmembrane domain and a cytosolic domain. The objective of this study was to understand the roles of the PAM cytosolic domain. PAM, one of the few known secretory granule membrane proteins, has served as a model to understand granule trafficking as well as a candidate feedback regulator. We demonstrated that the PAM cytosolic domain is intrinsically unstructured. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis revealed the occurrence of coupled phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of this domain during stimulated secretion. Six phosphorylation sites were identified using mass-spectrometry and phospho-specific antibodies. Electron-microscopy and surface biotinylation revealed that dephosphorylation of Ser949 was essential for sorting in the endocytic pathway, juxtamembrane cleavage of PAM and returning PAM to granules. Stimulated exocytosis increased the production of sf-CD, a soluble, cytosolic fragment of PAM that accumulated in the nucleus. Prior cleavage of PAM by prohormone convertases in the granule pathway or by α-secretase in the non-granule pathway was required before intramembrane proteolysis could be catalyzed by γ-secretase. Cytosolic domain phosphorylation affected the production of sf-CD and mass spectroscopy identified sf-CD that included 13, 11 or 8 transmembrane domain residues. Taken together, our data support a role for sf-CD in coordinating secretory granule biogenesis.

Comparative studies on adsorptive removal of chromium from contaminated water using different adsorbents

72-78Chromium, especially the hexavalent form, is toxic to humans. Industries like chrome plating, textile, electroplating discharge Cr(VI) in their effiuents. Wastes containing chromium are environmentally persistent and toxic, and cannot be degraded or detoxified biologically. Various techniques developed for the removal of heavy metals include chemical precipitation, ion exchange and adsorption. Activated carbon adsorption systems though widely used are very expensive and the regeneration cost is also very high. Therefore, their use in wastewater treatment may not be economically feasible. There is, therefore, a need to identify and study adsorptive characteristics of low cost alternatives. The present investigation was, therefore, undertaken to select suitable locally and commercially available adsorbents such as activated alumina, ion exchange resin, with special attention to low cost adsorbents like saw dust, treated saw dust and sand, and to carry out a comparative study of their applicability to heavy metal removal. The results of these studies are presented in this paper

The Origin and Functions of Exosomes in Cancer

Exosomes are nanovesicles having a maximum size of 150 nm and is a newly emerging focus in various fields of research. Its role in cargo trafficking along with its differential expression is associated with the disrupted homeostasis and provides an opportunity to defend against different diseases like cancer. Furthermore, exosomes are rich in cargos, which contain proteins and nucleic acids that directly reflect the metabolic state of the cells from which it originates. This review summarizes recent studies on tumor-derived exosomes with an overview about biogenesis, their functions and potential of using as diagnostic and prognostic markers. We also discussed the current challenges and microfluidic-based detection approaches that might improve the detection of exosomes in different settings. More intricate studies of the molecular mechanisms in angiogenesis, pre-metastatic niche formation, and metastasis can give more promising insights and novel strategies in oncotherapeutics

Competitive Sorption of Cu(II), Pb(II) and Hg(II) Ions from Aqueous Solution Using Coconut Shell-Based Activated Carbon

Many adsorbents have been studied for their adsorption properties towards one-component metal ion solutions. However, if these materials are to be used for treating wastewater, their performance has to be determined in multi-component solutions. In the present work, multi-component metal sorption by coconut shell-based activated carbon has been studied using single, binary and ternary systems composed of Cu(II), Pb(II) and Hg(II) ions. The influence of solution pH was also demonstrated. A set of desorption studies was also performed for the same metal ions with the aim of investigating the mechanism involved. It was found that chemisorption, surface chelation and complexation might be a possible metal ion removal mechanism. Scanning electron micrographs (SEM) and the EDAX spectrum of the activated carbon surface before and after equilibration of the adsorbent with the metal ion solution clearly showed the presence of Cu(II), Pb(II) and Hg(II) ions. An attempt was made to quantify the interaction behaviour of the metal ion on the adsorbent and to correlate such observations with the chemical and physical properties of the metal ions. The ability of isotherm models such as those of Freundlich and Langmuir to predict the equilibrium uptake of Cu(II), Pb(II) and Hg(II) ions from one-component, binary and ternary systems was also tested. Both the Langmuir and Freundlich models were found to fit the experimental data well. The applicability of the extended Langmuir model was also evaluated for multi-component systems