Testing LSND at long-baseline neutrino experiments

Recently it was suggested that two very different mass-squared differences play a role in atmospheric neutrino oscillations. The larger of these also accounts for the LSND result and the smaller of these also drives the solar neutrino oscillations. We consider the predictions of this scheme for long-baseline experiments. We find that high statistics experiments, such as MINOS, can observe a clean signal for this scheme, which is clearly distinguishable from the usual scheme of atmospheric neutrino oscillations driven by a single mass-squared difference.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

Protective role of Taurine against mercuric chloride intoxicated rats

            The present study has been designed to investigate the influence of taurine on mercury intoxicated kidney tissue of rats (Rattus norvegicus). At sub-lethal dose of mercuric chloride (2mg/kg body weight) treatment,  creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and lipid peroxidation (LPO) contents were significantly increased in serum and kidney tissues respectively. And simultaneously, reduced glutathione (GSH) content, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were significantly decreased due to rupture of kidney tissue caused by mercury poison. During the recovery period, mercury chloride intoxicated rats were again treated with taurine (50mg/kg body weight) for another 15 days. It shows the remarkable recovery of the animal from the adverse effect of mercury toxicity. An enhanced level of LPO content and altered level of antioxidant system were restored to near normal level in mercury intoxicated animals. The result suggested that taurine play a vital role to reduce the toxic effect of mercury in the kidney tissue of rats. ÂÂ

Testing LSND at long-baseline neutrino experiments

Recently it was suggested that two very different mass-squared differences play a role in atmospheric neutrino oscillations. The larger of these also accounts for the LSND result and the smaller of these also drives the solar neutrino oscillations. We consider the predictions of this scheme for long-baseline experiments. We find that high statistics experiments, such as MINOS, can observe a clean signal for this scheme, which is clearly distinguishable from the usual scheme of atmospheric neutrino oscillations driven by a single mass-squared difference

Monitoring, evaluation and comparison of adverse effect profile of ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin in acute bacterial exacerbation of chronic bronchitis patients attending pulmonology department of tertiary care teaching hospital: a prospective observational study

Background: In 2016, FDA recommended that “serious side effects associated with flouroquinolones generally outweigh the benefits for the patients with acute sinusitis, acute bronchitis and uncomplicated UTI”. Throughout India the most commonly used flouroquinolones for above conditions are Ciprofloxacin, Ofloxacin, and Levofloxacin. In this scenario, the present study was undertaken to monitor, evaluate and compare the adverse effect profile of Ciprofloxacin and Ofloxacin in acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis patients.Methods: Prospective, observational study done in 200 patients of tertiary care teaching hospital. The patients diagnosed with, acute bronchitis treated with Ciprofloxacin 500mg BD or Ofloxacin 400mg BD for 7 days were included in the study. The study duration was 6 months. ADR causality assessment was done with Naranjo algorithm. Statistical test applied was chi- square test.Results: 63 ADR were reported in Ofloxacin group and 19 ADR in Ciprofloxacin group. Insomnia was most frequent ADR (40%) in patients treated with Ofloxacin. There is high incidence of ADRs in ofloxacin group. chi square test showed this difference is statistically significant (p<0.05). Insomnia was significantly higher in ofloxacin group (p<0.05).Conclusions: In India frequently used and misused antimicrobials are fluoroquinolones. The present study concluded that no serious ADRs but ofloxacin group of patients have shown increased incidence of ADRs associated with CNS especially Insomnia. However, further large scale, multi-centric studies are needed to confirm these results.

Effects of Clay Mineral Application on Soil Moisture Status, Physiological Traits and Yield of Rainfed Tomato under Semi-Arid Alfisols

The effects of application of farm yard manure (FYM) and clay mineral (CM) on soil and plant characteristics like soil moisture at field capacity, permanent wilting point, leaf area, leaf nitrogen, relative water content, yield of tomato were examined based on field experiments conducted in a semi-arid alfisol at Hyderabad during 1998 -99 and 1999-2000. Two levels of FYM and three levels of CM (fullers earth) were applied in the filed. The Analysis of Variance indicated that application of 16 t/ha of CM together with 10 t/ha of FYM retained a significantly higher soil moisture as measured by pressure outflow and gravimetric methods. The per cent survival, leaf area and relative water content was also significantly higher. On the other hand, application of 8 t/ha of CM together with 10 t/ha of FYM helped to achieve maximum leaf N, higher marketable yield, fruit firmness, total soluble solids, total soluble solids-acidity ratio in tomato under semi-arid alfisols

Arsenic-induced oxidative stress in fresh water catfish Tilapia mossambica

An experiment was conducted to investigate bioaccumulation potential of arsenic and changes in oxidative stress indices in liver tissue from arsenic exposed fish Tilapia mossambica were used for the present investigation. The Tilapia mossambica were exposed to two non lethal doses of arsenic for 10 days, which induced tissue lipid peroxidation, increased the ratio of oxidized to reduced glutathione and produced excess H2O2 within 1–2 days of exposure. Furthermore, arsenic treatment increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase but decreased glutathione reductase (GR) activity within a day of exposure, indicating the generation of oxidative stress in fish at an early stage. It is therefore concluded that peroxisomal H2O2 metabolizing enzymes are potential targets of arsenic toxicity in Tilapia mossambica

Effect of Taurine and Glutathione on Mercury Toxicity in Liver Tissue of Rats

The present investigation examined the ability of taurine and glutathione as an antioxidant to protect against mercury induced oxidative stress and hepatotoxicity. Mercury hepatotoxicity was induced by oral administration of mercury at a dose of 2 mg/kg body weight daily for 30 days. Hepatotoxicity was assessed by reduced serum total protein level and increased serum levels alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransaminase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total protein. Mercury treatment increased lipid peroxidation (LPO) measured as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) concentration and decreased reduced glutathione (GSH) content in the rat liver.  Again taurine and glutathione is administrated for 15 days. During this period, taurine improved liver functions, as indicated by decline of serum transaminases and ALP levels and elevation of serum total protein. Moreover, taurine significantly reduced AST, ALT, ALP and hepatic TBARS and increased GSH content and total protein in the hepatic tissue. These results indicate that taurine has a protective action against mercury induced hepatic damage in rats than glutathione

An enhanced fluorescent ZIF-8 film by capturing guest molecules for light-emitting applications

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) constructed from metal ions/clusters and organic linkers have led to new porous luminescent materials and, thus, have attracted much attention. But their photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) are not high and the photoluminescence mechanism is still unclear. In order to solve this problem, in this work, zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8, a kind of MOF) composite films containing small molecules of acetic acid were successfully prepared on a glass substrate via a sol–gel method, and they exhibited a high PLQY of 54.42%. Compared with pure ZIF-8 film, the obtained ZIF-8 composite film presented a significant enhancement in blue light emission. Moreover, the PLQY of the ZIF-8 composite film can be controlled to a certain extent via adjusting the molar ratio of the ligands to the zinc source. Among them, ZIF-8 film prepared at a molar ratio of 2.5 : 1 showed higher transmittance, and the fluorescence quantum efficiency reached 54.42%, which may be attributed to electron transfer between acetic acid as an electron-donor and the ZIF-8 structure caused by their relatively strong hydrogen bonding interactions. This work may provide new insights into the enhanced fluorescence of MOF materials for light-emitting applications