An Uncommon Cause of Spontaneous Pneumomediastinum and Subcutaneous Emphysema

A 79-year-old gentleman presented with spontaneous pneumomediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema with pneumonia but no pre-existing lung disease. He presented with a 4-day history of increased shortness of breath, pleuritic chest pain, fevers, and non-productive cough. After 4 days of intravenous antibiotics, the patient developed considerable subcutaneous emphysema and pneumomediastinum. Pneumomediastinum presents most commonly with chest pain, shortness of breath, and subcutaneous emphysema. It has previously been associated with cases of pneumonia but often with rare strains such as P. jirovecii pneumonia in immunocompromised patients. This case highlights spontaneous pneumomediastinum as a rare complication of pneumonia. Treatment of pneumomediastinum is typically conservative, and although options may be limited, aggressive management of any causative factor may be essential in selected cases

TGA studies of metoclopramide complexes of cobalt(II) in the solid state

A new series of cobalt(II) complexes with metoclopramide (MCP) ligand have been prepared. The prepared Co(II)-MCP complexes were characterized for various analytical techniques. Conductivity and elemental analysis of complexes have been measured. The thermal stability and degradation kinetics have been measured using thermogravimetric analyser. Kinetic parameter was obtained for each stage of thermal degradation for Co(II)-MCP complexes using Horowitz-Metzger, Coats-Redfern and Broido's methods. The activation energy (Ea) of the complexes for the thermal degradation process lie in the range 31-168, 23-161 and 33-170 kJ mol-1 for Horowitz-Metzger, Coats-Redfern and Broido's methods, respectively. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Preliminary evaluation of a robotic apparatus for the analysis of passive glenohumeral joint kinematics

Background: The shoulder has the greatest range of motion of any joint in the human body. This is due, in part, to the complex interplay between the glenohumeral (GH) joint and the scapulothoracic (ST) articulation. Currently, our ability to study shoulder kinematics is limited, because existing models isolate the GH joint and rely on manual manipulation to create motion, and have low reproducibility. Similarly, most established techniques track shoulder motion discontinuously with limited accuracy. Methods: To overcome these problems, we have designed a novel system in which the shoulder girdle is studied intact, incorporating both GH and ST motions. In this system, highly reproducible trajectories are created using a robotic actuator to control the intact shoulder girdle. High-speed cameras are employed to track retroreflective bone markers continuously. Results: We evaluated this automated system’s capacity to reproducibly capture GH translation in intact and pathologic shoulder conditions. A pair of shoulders (left and right) were tested during forward elevation at baseline, with a winged scapula, and after creation of a full thickness supraspinatus tear. Discussion The system detected differences in GH translations as small as 0.5 mm between different conditions. For each, three consecutive trials were performed and demonstrated high reproducibility and high precision

Design and manufacture of a novel system to simulate the biomechanics of basic and pitching shoulder motion

Objectives: Cadaveric models of the shoulder evaluate discrete motion segments using the glenohumeral joint in isolation over a defined trajectory. The aim of this study was to design, manufacture and validate a robotic system to accurately create three-dimensional movement of the upper body and capture it using high-speed motion cameras. Methods: In particular, we intended to use the robotic system to simulate the normal throwing motion in an intact cadaver. The robotic system consists of a lower frame (to move the torso) and an upper frame (to move an arm) using seven actuators. The actuators accurately reproduced planned trajectories. The marker setup used for motion capture was able to determine the six degrees of freedom of all involved joints during the planned motion of the end effector. Results: The testing system demonstrated high precision and accuracy based on the expected versus observed displacements of individual axes. The maximum coefficient of variation for displacement of unloaded axes was less than 0.5% for all axes. The expected and observed actual displacements had a high level of correlation with coefficients of determination of 1.0 for all axes. Conclusions: Given that this system can accurately simulate and track simple and complex motion, there is a new opportunity to study kinematics of the shoulder under normal and pathological conditions in a cadaveric shoulder model

Spectrophotometric Determination of Ru(III) with Trifluoperazine Dihydrochloride

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Agriculture Input Policies in India: Retrospect and Prospects

The overall objective of the study is to understand the awareness of mandatory production and distribution of Neem Coated Urea (NCU), trends in chemical fertilizer consumption (NKP) and their relation to food grain production across different periods of time and policies. An effort has also been made to understand the association between fertilizer consumption and productivity with respect to fertilizer-intensive crops. Finally, it was attempted to identify the important determinants of fertilizer consumption. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) was calculated for analysing the trends in fertilizer consumption and food grain production in India. Further, the growth rates per hectare consumption of fertilizers vis-à-vis the growth rates of yield of fertilizer-intensive crops are calculated. Multiple regression model is applied to identify factor influencing fertilizer consumption. The study has uncovered that the general development pace of chemical fertilizer consumption in India for the period-I, was 5.58%, has diminished to 3.24% per annum for the period-II. By 2030, the fertilizer demand is projected to be around 57 million tons and is expected to grow at a faster rate, thereafter. Study focused on NCU policy of the government. The awareness level is 70 to100% in Karnataka, Bihar, Assam, Punjab Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. At aggregate level, 85% of farmers noticed the difference between (NCU) and (NU) by reflecting the mandatory production and distribution of Neem Coated Urea (NCU) policy is in the right direction, considering the benefits realized by the Indian farming community