Risk factors for relapse in childhood steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome

Background: Nephrotic syndrome (NS) generally tends to follow a benign and chronic relapsing course. Relapses are a major problem in children with steroid sensitive NS (SSNS). Objective: To identify the risk factors for frequent relapse (FR) in the first episode childhood SSNS. Methods: This prospective study was conducted in the Government Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital, Tamil Nadu, between July 2013 and January 2016. Children aged 9 months - 12 years with a diagnosis of SSNS (first episode) who came for follow-up for at least 12 months in the pediatric nephrology clinic were included. The enrolled cases were divided into 2 groups: (1) frequent relapser (FR) and (2) infrequent relapser (IFR). 9 factors were studied as possible risk factorsfor relapse. The data collected were analyzed using Chi-square test and Student’s t-test. Results: Of 160 SSNS children, there were 92 (57.5%) cases of IFR and 68 (42.5%) cases of FR. There were 97 males (60.6%) and 63 females (39.4%) with a male to female ratio of 1.5:1. The mean age of presentation was 4.37±2.32 years. The mean time taken to achieve remission during the first episode was 1.94±1.04 weeks. The interval between remission and first relapse was 5.56±4.51 months. Incidence of infection and hypertension was 31.9% and 37.5%, respectively. Risk factors significantly associated with FR were: Time taken to achieveremission during the first episode (>14 days) (p<0.0001), mean duration of interval between remission and first relapse (within 6 months) (p<0.0001), associated infections (p<0.0001) and hypertension (p<0.0001). Age at onset, sex, serum albumin, 24 h urine protein, and azotemia did not influence the FR in our study. Conclusion: More than 14 days to achieve remission during the first episode, relapse within first 6 months, associated infections and hypertension were the factors associated with FRs

Genetic Profile Evaluation of Human Cell Lines Treated with Anastatica hierochuntica Using Forensic DNA Fingerprinting Markers

Cell line authentication using Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) is necessary to ensure the integrity of the cell for its continuous culture and to identify misidentification and cross-contamination issues. This study investigates the changes in the genetic profile of MCF-7 and HepG2 cell lines caused by the methanolic leaf extract of Anastatica hierochuntica (AH) using human identification based STR markers. MCF-7 and HepG2 cell lines were treated with various concentrations of AH extracts for three different periods. The treated and control cells' DNA was extracted using a QIAamp® DNA Micro Kit, quantified using a Quantifiler Duo DNA Quantification Kit, and amplified using an AmpFlSTR Identifiler plus PCR Amplification Kit. The concentrations of the DNA extracted from control and MCF-7 and HepG2 cell lines treated with AH extract at 300 to 2400 µg/ml for 24hr and 150 to 2400 µg/ml for 48 and 72hrs were statistically significant (p<0.05). Microsatellite instability (MSI), loss of heterozygosity (LOH), insertion/deletions changes in the STRs profile were observed in treated cell lines at 1200 and 2400 µg/ml in MCF-7 cells for 48 and 72hrs and HepG2 cells for 24, 48, and 72hrs. We conclude that the highest concentration of AH extracts affected the genotype of the cell lines leading to misidentification. Therefore, cell line authentication by forensic DNA analysis techniques plays a decisive role for cells tested with a high concentration of chemical compounds and gives the forensic investigator an insight into these changes in the STR genotype of a victim/suspect who has been been under long term chemotherapeutic treatment

Corrosion and hydrogen permeation inhibition for mild steel in HCl by isomers of organic compounds

Hydrogen permeation and corrosion inhibition characteristics of isomers of phenylenediamine, toluidine, and nitroaniline were studied on mild steel in 1M HCl. The Tafel extrapolation method was used to determine the inhibition efficiency, while the Devanathan-Stachurski technique was used to determine the hydrogen permeation rate. The adsorption of these compounds on mild steel from 1M HCl obeys Langmuir’s adsorption isotherm for toluidine and nitroaniline and Temkin’s adsorption isotherm for phenylenediamine. Inhibition efficiency was found to be more for isomers of phenylenediamine followed by those of nitroaniline and toluidine. All the isomers of these three organic compounds inhibit the corrosion of and hydrogen permeation through mild steel in HCl in the order ortho > meta > para for phenylenediamine and nitroaniline and meta > ortho > para for toluidin

Textile technology

This review discusses cotton textile processing and methods of treating effluent in the textile industry. Several countries, including India, have introduced strict ecological standards for textile industries. With more stringent controls expected in the future, it is essential that control measures be implemented to minimize effluent problems. Industrial textile processing comprises pretreatment, dyeing, printing, and finishing operations. These production processes not only consume large amounts of energy and water, but they also produce substantial waste products. This manuscript combines a discussion of waste production from textile processes, such as desizing, mercerizing, bleaching, dyeing, finishing, and printing, with a discussion of advanced methods of effluent treatment, such as electro-oxidation, bio-treatment, photochemical, and membrane processes

Removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewater by electrochemical oxidation using cylindrical flow reactor and optimization of treatment conditions

This paper examines the use of electrooxidation for treatment of wastewater obtained froma pharmaceutical industry. The wastewater primarily contained Gentamicin and Dexamethasone. With NaCl as supporting electrolyte, the effluent was treated in a cylindrical flow reactor in continuous (single pass) mode under various current densities (2–5 A/dm2) and flow rates (10–40 L/h). By cyclic voltammetric (CV) analysis, the optimum condition for maximum redox reaction was determined. The efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction and power consumption were studied for different operating conditions. From the results it was observed that maximum COD reduction of about 85.56% was obtained at a flow rate of 10 L/h with an applied current density of 4 A/dm2. FT-IR spectra studies showed that during electrooxidation, the intensities of characteristic functional groups such as N-H, O-H were reduced and some new peaks also started to appear. Probable theory, reaction mechanism and modeling were proposed for the oxidation of pharmaceutical effluent. The experimental results demonstrated that electrooxidation treatment was very effective and capable of elevating the quality of treated wastewater to the reuse standard prescribed for pharmaceutical industries

Removal of Fatty Acids from Palm Oil Effluent by Combined Electro-Fenton and Biological Oxidation Process

The main objective of this study was to find out a cost-effective treatment methodology for the treatment of palm oil effluent (POE) obtained from a food processing industry. An electro-Fenton pretreatment and biological oxidation has been suggested for the removal of recalcitrant contaminants present in POE. An initial COD of about 6,700 mg/L of POE was subjected to electrolytic degradation for 2 h and subsequently by biological oxidation. The biological oxidation was carried out using Aspergillus niger and Pseudomonas putida in anaerobic condition. Electro-Fenton process removed 48.35% of the COD. Biological oxidation subsequently decreased the COD to 86.12% and BOD to 85.23%. In the combined process, a high reduction in TOC and TN were achieved. Experimental conditions have been optimized and performances of these techniques have been discussed. The treated water can be reused for general and agricultural purposes

Study on strength and corrosion performance for steel embedded in metakaolin blended concrete/mortar

It is an undeniable fact that concrete is the most widely used man-made construction material in the world today, and will remain so for decades to come. The popularity of concrete is largely due to the abundance of raw material, low manufacturing and maintenance cost, excellence in compression, and corrosion aspects, durability to weathering and fire hazards, versatility in forming various shapes and its unlimited structural applications in combination with steel reinforcement. However, the cement industry is also highly energy intensive, and the emission of carbon dioxide during cement manufacturing has created enormous environmental concerns. There has also been an increase in the number of incidents where concrete structures experienced severe deterioration in extreme environments. All these factors have contributed pressures from various quarters to reduce cement consumption, and to intensify research in exploring the possibilities of enhancing strength, durability and corrosion reduction through the use of pozzolans as supplementary cementing materials. The utilization of calcined clay in the form of metakaolin as a pozzolan for concrete has received considerable interest in recent years. The use of metakaolin as a mineral admixture for concrete is a well documented practice. Metakaolin is a quality enhancing pozzolan for concrete. It is manufactured from kaolin which is abundance in India and other parts of the country. In the present investigation mechanical property and corrosion behavior of carbon steel using metakaolin (5–20%) as partial replacement in ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Compressive strength, resistivity, ultra pulse velocity, open circuit potential, studies on water absorption, weight loss were studied. It was found that up to 15% replacement of metakaolin in OPC improves the mechanical properties of concrete. Corrosion of carbon steel improved by the addition of metakaolin up to 15%