Heavy metal water pollution- A case study

Heavy metals are dangerous because they tend to bioaccumulate. Bioaccumulation means an increase in the concentration of a chemical in a biological organism over time, compared to the chemical's concentration in the environment. Compounds accumulate in living things any time they are taken up and stored faster than they are broken down (metabolized) or excreted. Heavy metals can enter a water supply by industrial and consumer waste, or even from acidic rain breaking down soils and releasing heavy metals into streams, lakes, rivers, and groundwater. Heavy metal toxicity can result in damaged or reduced mental and central nervous function, lower energy levels, and damage to blood composition, lungs, kidneys, liver, and other vital organs. Long-term exposure may result in slowly progressing physical, muscular, and neurological degenerative processes that mimic Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, muscular dystrophy, and multiple sclerosis. Allergies are not uncommon and repeated long-term contact with some metals or their compounds may even cause cancer (International Occupational Safety and Health Centre1999). &nbsp

UTTAR PRADESH HIGHER EDUCATION DIGITAL LIBRARY PORTAL: AN ANALYSIS

In the current digital information environment, a well-defined e-platform is required to organize, store, retrieve and disseminate of information efficiently—the web portal facilitates users to access a wide range of web-based information resources. Here, an attempt has been made to create awareness about Uttar Pradesh higher education digital library portal. This study was conducted to the analysis of Uttar Pradesh higher education digital library portal and the findings of the study are that Uttar Pradesh higher education digital library has more than 70,000 e-contents available in different streams and students of higher-level educational institutions are taking advantage of it. The notes and educational contents of the best teachers of the Uttar Pradesh state are accessible to every student without cost. This digital library portal is a godsend for those students who do not have access to the contents of an uninterrupted internet connection in this age of online learning. They can use this to download study material at their leisure

Construction of m-Repeated Burst Error Detecting and Correcting Non-binary Linear Codes

Error correcting codes are required to ensure reliable communication of digitally encoded information. One of the areas of practical importance in which a parallel growth of the subject error correcting codes took place is that of burst error detecting and correcting codes. The nature of burst errors differs from channel to channel depending upon the behavior of channels or the kind of errors which occur during the process of transmission. The rate of transmission is efficient if the number of parity-check digits are as minimum as possible. It is usually not possible to give the exact number of parity-check digits required for a given code. However, bounds can be obtained over the number of parity-check digits. An upper bound for a linear code capable of detecting/ correcting burst errors or its variants is many a times established by the technique used to establish Varsharmov-Gilbert-Sacks bound by constructing a parity-check matrix for the requisite code. This technique not only ensures the existence of such a code but also gives a method for constructing such a code. The synthesis method using this technique is cumbersome and to the best of our knowledge, there is no systematic way to construct a parity-check matrix for a burst error correcting non-binary linear code. Extending the algorithm for binary linear codes given by the authors to non-binary codes, the paper proposes a new algorithm for constructing a parity-check matrix for any linear code over GF(q) capable of detecting and correcting a new kind of burst error called `m-repeated burst error of length b or less\u27. Codes based on the proposed algorithm have been illustrated

Breast cancer and the immune system: the response of lymphocytes to breast cancer and to chemotherapy

Background and Aim Chemotherapy is used for treatment of breast cancer. However, relatively little is known about the extent or the time course of immune dysfunction caused by it. The aim of this study was to evaluate the circulating lymphocytes and tetanus & pneumococcal antibody titers pre and at various time points post-chemotherapy and check for association between circulating lymphocytes and tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and their correlations with patient outcome. Methods Detailed immunophenotyping of peripheral blood lymphocytes was performed by flow cytometry in 88 patients with primary breast cancer before and at various time points up to 9 months after chemotherapy. Peripheral blood levels of anti-pneumococcal and anti-tetanus antibodies were assessed using ELISA. Immunohistochemistry was used to assess the presence of tumour infiltrating CD20+, CD4+, CD8+ and FoxP3+ positive lymphocytes in the tumour microenvironment. Results There were significant depletions of circulating B, CD4+T, CD8+T and NK cells at 2 weeks post-chemotherapy (p<0.001), with B cells showing maximum depletion. Levels of B cells and CD4+ T cells remained significantly low even at 9 months post-chemotherapy (p<0.001). Repopulating B and CD4+ T cell phenotypes were different from the pre-chemotherapy profile. Titers of anti-pneumococcal and anti-tetanus antibodies were significantly reduced post- chemotherapy and did not return to normal even at 9 months post-chemotherapy (p<0.001). Smoking and chemotherapy regimen had significant correlations with degrees of depletion and repopulation of B and T cells. Chemotherapy regimen and the extent of depletion of lymphocytes had a significant influence on overall and disease-free survival. Analysis of TILs showed significant correlations between the stromal and intra-tumoural levels of each of the lymphocytes and between different lymphocytes. TILs correlated with hormone negative, triple negative and grade 3 tumours. Only tumour infiltrating CD8+ lymphocytes correlated with its matched circulating levels, and this positive correlation was stronger in hormone negative and triple negative tumours. High CD4+ stromal infiltrate was associated with better disease-free survival and overall survival. High stromal CD8+ T cells were associated with better disease-free survival in ER/PR negative patients, while high intra-tumoural CD8+ T cell and FoxP3+ infiltrate was associated with poor overall survival in the ER/PR positive cohort. Conclusion Breast cancer chemotherapy has significant long-term effects on the immune parameters and this should be taken into consideration during clinical management. TILs are associated with poor prognostic features and also show some correlation with circulating lymphocytes. The site and type of lymphocyte infiltrate in the tumour microenvironment influences outcome

Ultrasound guided detection of position of post partum intra uterine contraceptive device and its relation to complications

Background: Worldwide, Intrauterine Contraceptive Device (IUCD) is one of the most commonly used reversible methods of contraception among married women of reproductive age. It is the second most commonly used forms of contraception, ranking second only to female sterilization. Proper positioning of Copper containing IUCD is of utmost importance for efficacy and safety. The immediate postpartum period, after a birth but prior to discharge from the hospital is an important but under utilized time frame to initiate contraceptives, specially long acting contraceptives such as intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD). To study the location of Copper IUCD by ultrasound, relationship between position and complaints, failure rate and expulsion rate in post-partum IUCD cases.Methods: The study was prospective, analytical study conducted on 200 women for one year.  IUCD insertion was done in two groups; group A (normal delivery, postplacental) and group B (caesarean section, intracaesarean). On ultrasonography, position and distance of IUCD from fundus of uterus was measured. Outcome measures were expulsion, complication and failure rate upto six months. Informed consent was taken from each participant and ethical justification for the study was sought.Results: Majority of the patients were in age group of 21-25 years. Multigravidae patients had more acceptability of IUCD than primigravidae. More than half of IUCD insertion was done by senior residents (56%). Malpositions were more common in vaginal delivery (62%) than caesarean section (28%). Most common malposition was mid cavity and least common was oblique. Most common complaint was pain abdomen and least common was expulsion.Conclusions: Sonography can be used as an adjunct to clinical examination to examine the position of the IUCD. Ultrasonography done after PPIUCD insertion helps in determining, whether PPIUCDs are placed in normal position or malposition. Malpositioned PPIUCDs have more complications as compared to normally placed IUCD

Synthesis, characterization and applications of chitosan based metallic nanoparticles: A review

Chitosan as a natural biopolymer has been produced to be the important host for the preparation of metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) because of its excellent characteristics like:- good stabilizing and capping ability, biocompatibility, biodegradability, eco-friendly and non-toxicity properties. Chitosan can play a very important role for synthesis of metallic nanoparticles, as chitosan is a cationic polymer. It attracts metal ions and reduces them and also Capps and stabilizes. So basically chitosan can be responsible for the controlled synthesis of metallic nanoparticle. Chitosan has a very good chelating property. This property is due to its –NH2 and –OH functional groups. Size and shape of metallic nanoparticles are much affected by chitosan concentration, molecular weight, time of reaction, degree of acetylation of chitosan, pH of the medium, method of synthesis and type of derivative of chitosan etc. Metallic nanoparticles`s properties and applications are much associated with their size and shape. Optimization of the metallic nanoparticle size and shape has been the subject of curiosity for nanotechnology scientist. Chitosan can solve this problem by applying the optimization conditions. But a very little work is reported about: - how chitosan can affect the size and shape of metallic nanoparticles and how can it reduce metal salts to prepare metallic nanoparticle, stablilized in chitosan metrics. This is very first report as a review article highlighting the effect of chitosan on synthesis of metallic nanoparticles and optimization conditions. This review will also be beneficial for scientist working on food sensing application of nanoparticles.  Various synthesis methods and applications of chitosan based metallic nanoparticles have also been reported in details

Assessment of Knowledge and Practices towards Swine flu: A cross-sectional study among rural housewives

Background: Swine flu is an emerging public health problem in various countries including India and was declared a “Phase 6 Pandemic” by WHO in 2009. India ranks as 3rd most affected country for cases and deaths of swine flu globally. Objectives: To assess the level of knowledge and practices regarding Swine flu among rural housewives of Jammu and to find out the association between the two. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during the month of April 2015 using a pre-tested and semi-structured questionnaire among 310 housewives from two villages of Jammu district. Results: Adequate knowledge was seen in 61.9% of the respondents and 53.5% had followed good practices. Mean (SD) for knowledge and practices score was 11.4(2.37) &amp; 10.3(2.58) respectively. Literacy levels were identified as a positive predictor for adequate knowledge and good practice score. A linear relationship was evident both between knowledge / practices as well as age upto 40 years after which there was a declining trend. Also significant positive association was found between knowledge and practices (p&lt;0.001). Conclusions:&nbsp;Age and education played a key role in attaining adequate knowledge and inculcating healthy practices towards prevention of swine flu. Continuous and sustained efforts are required on the part of government to impart scientific and necessary information to the target population