Sulphuric acid leaching of low/medium grade managanese ores using a novel nitrogeneous reductant-NH3NH2HSO4

Low and medium grade land as well sea based manganese ores were used for manganese extraction in H2SO4 - NH3NH2HSO4 (hydrazine sulphate) medium For land based Mn ores, only Mn recovery is important but for sea nodules which contain substantial amounts Co, Ni, and Cu, their recovery is equally important. In the present studies four samples used were: Indian ocean manganese nodules, medium and low grade Mn ores of Gujarat, and low grade Mn ore of Orissa, India. The Mn content of these ores varied from 15 to 39%. The objective of this work is to establish a reductant which can be used for leaching Mn from all types of ores. The optimum conditions established for nodules by varying parameters such as time, temperature, pulp density, H2SO4 and NH3NH2HSO4 concentrations were: pulp density 10%, time 0.5h, temperature 110ºC, NH3NH2HSO4 3.25 g/10g, H2SO4 2.0% (v/v) for 96.9% Mn, 85.25% Cu, 92.58% Ni and 76.5% Co extractions. More than 92% Mn could be leached from different types of ores by varying amount of reductant and acid concentration at 35ºC. Depending on Mn content 1.0 to 1.2 times stochiometric amount of reductant and 1.5 to 1.8 times sulphuric acid were required for >92% Mn extraction

Fixed Monthly versus Less Frequent Ranibizumab Dosing and Predictors of Visual Response in Exudative Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Purpose. To examine temporal patterns of visual acuity (VA) response to pooled 0.3 mg/0.5 mg ranibizumab treatment in patients with age-related macular degeneration and identify potential baseline predictors of response. Design. Retrospective analysis. Methods. Results from 1824 ranibizumab-treated patients receiving fixed monthly, quarterly, or as-needed dosing after three monthly loading doses in four phase III/IIIb trials (ANCHOR, MARINA, PIER, and SAILOR) were analyzed. Results. At month 3, 14.9% to 29.4% of patients had gained ≥15 letters. Not all patients achieved peak gains at month 3; many continued to have VA increases throughout treatment. After three monthly loading doses, continued monthly dosing resulted in further gains, as there were more delayed 15-letter responders at month 12 (14.7–16.1%) than with less frequent dosing (5.0–6.0%). Monthly dosing also resulted in more patients maintaining VA gains at later time points. Early 15-letter responders had lower baseline mean VA than delayed 15-letter responders in ANCHOR and MARINA; no other differences in baseline characteristics were noted. Conclusions. Although some patients have rapid improvements in VA, others do not experience peak VA until later during treatment. Continued monthly dosing resulted in a greater percentage of patients gaining ≥15 letters than with switching to less frequent dosing regimens

Mechanism of haematotoxicity induced by phenylhydrazine: a review

This work was carried out to show the effects of phenylhydrazine (PHZ) induced anaemic condition. Anaemic condition is defined as reduction in red blood cells (RBC) than normal number of red blood cells. The anti-anaemic activity can be studied using the changes in haematological parameters (PCV, RBC & Haemoglobin) influenced by PHZ [(40mg/kg p.o.)] in rats. PHZ, a potent chemical that causes different effects on different tissues at several levels. Administration of PHZ causes haemolytic anaemia, genotoxic effects and rose in iron absorption in spleen, liver and duodenum & causes change in iron metabolism. PHZ acts by activating immune response which triggers phagocytosis and also interfere with the binding of erythropoietin (EPO) receptors and further JAK-STAT pathway. PHZ also causes genotoxic effect by forming single strand DNA damage. In view of lipid peroxidation along with the formation of Thiobarbituric acid (TBA)-reactive malonyldialdehyde, it is recommend that PHZ induces anaemia as an outcome of peroxidation of  RBC membrane lipids and this effect may be a upshot of the autoxidation of the drug and the interaction of membrane lipids and oxygen radical

Performance Analysis of Ship Tracking using PID/Predictive Controller

oai:ojs.www.ijseat.com:article/1: Accurate ship navigation is very essential forsaving fuel as well time. In order to achieve accurate tracking inunmanned ship navigation various controllers like PID,Predictive and Adaptive controllers are used. Each one ishaving its own merits and demerits but the Predictive controllerprovides better tracking. The only major limitation ofPredictive and Adaptive controllers is that they arecomputationally heavy. In order to reduce the computationaltime, researches have come up with various matrix inversiontechniques [7]. In this work an attempt is made to evaluate theperformance of PID and Predictive controllers in terms oftracking efficiency and computational time. Computationalresult evaluated using mat lab shows that Predictive controllerwith matrix inversion technique provides better tracking andtakes less time

SIK2 inhibition enhances PARP inhibitor activity synergistically in ovarian and triple-negative breast cancers

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARP inhibitors) have had an increasing role in the treatment of ovarian and breast cancers. PARP inhibitors are selectively active in cells with homologous recombination DNA repair deficiency caused by mutations in BRCA1/2 and other DNA repair pathway genes. Cancers with homologous recombination DNA repair proficiency respond poorly to PARP inhibitors. Cancers that initially respond to PARP inhibitors eventually develop drug resistance. We have identified salt-inducible kinase 2 (SIK2) inhibitors, ARN3236 and ARN3261, which decreased DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair functions and produced synthetic lethality with multiple PARP inhibitors in both homologous recombination DNA repair deficiency and proficiency cancer cells. SIK2 is required for centrosome splitting and PI3K activation and regulates cancer cell proliferation, metastasis, and sensitivity to chemotherapy. Here, we showed that SIK2 inhibitors sensitized ovarian and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells and xenografts to PARP inhibitors. SIK2 inhibitors decreased PARP enzyme activity and phosphorylation of class-IIa histone deacetylases (HDAC4/5/7). Furthermore, SIK2 inhibitors abolished class-IIa HDAC4/5/7–associated transcriptional activity of myocyte enhancer factor-2D (MEF2D), decreasing MEF2D binding to regulatory regions with high chromatin accessibility in FANCD2, EXO1, and XRCC4 genes, resulting in repression of their functions in the DNA DSB repair pathway. The combination of PARP inhibitors and SIK2 inhibitors provides a therapeutic strategy to enhance PARP inhibitor sensitivity for ovarian cancer and TNBC

Feasibility of training community health workers in the detection of oral cancer

Importance: Visual screening for oral cancer has been found to be useful in a large randomized clinical trial in Kerala, India, showing substantial reduction in mortality. To address the shortage of medical personnel in resource-deficient regions, using the services of community health workers has been proposed as a strategy to fill the gap in human resources in health care. Objective: To assess the feasibility of community health workers in screening and early detection of oral cancer using a mobile application capturing system. Design, Setting, and Participants A cross-sectional study using a household sample was conducted in 10 areas of Gautam Budhnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India, from January 31, 2020, to March 31, 2021, to assess the feasibility of identification of oral lesions by community health workers using a mobile phone application compared with diagnosis by trained dentists in a screening clinic. Men and women aged 30 years or older as well as tobacco users younger than 30 years were eligible for screening. Interventions: Screening by trained community health workers vs dentists. Results: A total of 1200 participants were screened by the community health workers during their home visits; of these, 1018 participants (526 [51.7%] men; mean [SD] age, 35 [16] years) were also referred and screened by the dentists a clinic. There was near-perfect agreement (κ = 0.9) between the findings of the community health workers and the dentists in identifying the positive or negative cases with overall sensitivity of 96.69% (95% CI, 94.15%-98.33%) and specificity of identification of 98.69% (95% CI, 97.52%-99.40%). Conclusions and Relevance: In this cross-sectional study, trained community health workers were able after initial supervision by qualified dentists to perform oral cancer screening programs. These findings suggest that community health workers can perform this screening in resource-constrained settings

Phosphate solubilizers enhance NPK fertilizer use efficiency in rice and legume cultivation

It has been reported that phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) are the most promising bacteria among the plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR); which may be used as biofertilizers for plant growth and nutrient use efficiency. Moreover, these soil micro-organisms play a significant role in regulating the dynamics of organic matter decomposition and the availability of plant nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and other nutrients. Through this study, the management of nutrient use efficiency by the application of PSB was targeted in order to make the applied nutrients more available to the plants in the rice (Oryza sativa) and yardlong bean (Vigna unguiculata) cultivation. Results have shown that the treatments with PSB alone or in the form of consortia of compatible strains with or without the external application of chemical NPK gave more germination index (G. I.) from 2.5 to 5 in rice and 2.7 to 4.8 in bean seeds. They also showed a higher growth in both shoot and root length and a higher biomass as compared to the control. This gives us an idea about the potentiality of these PSB strains and their application in rice and yardlong bean cultivation to get a better harvest index. Their use will also possibly reduce the nutrient runoff or leaching and increase in the use efficiency of the applied fertilizers. Thus, we can conclude that the NPK uptake and management can be improved by the use of PSB in rice and yardlong bean cultivation, and their application may be much more beneficial in the agricultural field