Phase Transition of La0.62Sr0.38MnO3 Perovskite Manganites

Bulk and nano La0.62Sr0.38MnO3 perovskite manganite samples were prepared using solid state and sonochemical reaction respectively. The ultrasonic velocities measurement was made on prepared samples using ultrasonic through transmission method, at a fundamental frequency of 5 MHz over wide range of temperatures. The temperature dependence of the ultrasonic parameters shows an interesting anomaly in bulk and nano perovskite samples. The observed dramatic softening and hardening in sound velocities are related to phase transitions. Further, a decrease in grain size in the nanostructured sample leads to a shift in the ferromagnetic transition temperature (TC) from 375 to 370 K

Long Term use of Cell Phone in Business Community causing Hearing Loss

INTRODUCTION: As civilization has progressed, the noise in man‘s environment has increased. The adverse effect of noise is widespread with respect to human physiology and produce changes in many bio systems other than ear. It is however the ear which concerns us here. Noise has been shown to have many effects on people such as, decrease in working efficiency, annoyance, physiological changes in blood pressure and heart rate and psychological distress. The direct auditory effects are interference with speech communication, produced due to the masking background noise, and the primary auditory effect, the capacity of noise to produce hearing loss. AIM OF THE STUDY: Noise induced hearing loss is a preventable hearing disorder. It affects people of all ages and demographic. When increased intensity is transmitted into and through the auditory system noise induced hearing loss results. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY: Cross sectional study. N=90, Age group: 18-50 years. Year of study: 2010-2012. Inclusion criteria: 1. 18 – 50 years of age, 2. Healthy male vegetable traders, 3. Any type of mobile phones, 4. Normal intact tympanic membrane. Exclusion criteria: 1. Any history of any other co morbid illness like hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cardiac illness. 2. Any ear disease which have hearing loss 3. Any surgery to the ear with no improvement of hearing after surgery. 4. Any intake of ototoxic medications. SUMMARY: The cross sectional study was conducted from a period of November 2010 to October 2012, to study the effects of cellphone usage over the human auditory system. Total number of subjects – 90 healthy males. All the subjects were in the age group of 18 to 50 years. 37.78% (34 / 90) of subjects had ear warmth. 34.44% (31 / 90) of subjects had ear fullness. 8.88% (8 / 90) of subjects had tinnitus. Pure tone audiometry done periodically at the interval of one year from the baseline audiogram showing threshold changes in one or two frequencies in the follow up audiogram in 10% of the subjects. These candidates must be followed up regularly, for a long term to derive a final conclusion. CONCLUSION: In this study, on following up of 90 candidates for 3 years with pure tone audiometry, no significant hearing loss was observed, except some threshold changes in one or two frequencies in the final follow up audiogram. It is also observed, that the ear symptoms like ear warmth and ear fullness was observed in approximately 30% of subjects and there was no relation between the ear symptoms and threshold changes. Mild cochlear changes can be revealed in Distortion product otoacoustic emissions and auditory brainstem response. However this is a small cross sectional study, a large sample and long term follow up will be required to derive definite conclusions

Isolation and description of keratinase producing marine actinobacteria from South Indian Coastal Region

A unique standard starch casein medium has been implemented for the isolation of actinobacteria from the south Indian marine sediments. A combination of techniques, morphological, physiological and biochemical tests provided the evidence for the isolated actinobacteria. All the 56 isolates were inoculated on milk agar and soya meal agar plates for the primary proteolytic screening and the proportional study was made by ANOVA. Among the 56 isolates, nine showed proteolytic activity in terms of making clear zone around their colony on the plates. Then, nine isolates were subjected to the secondary screening on feather broth where three isolates (IS -1, 2 and 18) showed degradation of feather between seven and ten days. The keratinolytic characters of crude enzymes were scrutinized by feather keratin as substrate and the protein concentration was determined. Then, the isolates were identified at molecular level by 16S rRNA gene amplification technique.Key words: Actinobacteria, keratinase, milk agar, soya meal agar, 16S rRNA gene amplification

NOVEL IN SILICO APPROACH OF ANTICANCER ACTIVITY BY INHIBITING HEMOPEXIN PROTEINS WITH INDIGOFERA ASPALATHOIDESPLANT CONSTITUENTS AT ACTIVE SITE

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the anti-cancer activity using the phytoconstituents of Indigofera aspalathoides.Methods: The plant extract has been largely used as cell proliferation inhibitors. In this study, specific phytoconstituent has been targeted towardsmatrix metalloproteinases (MMPs).Results: MMPs are group of proteinases that are associated with cell invasion inhibition and also inhibit proliferation. The C-terminal domain ofMMPs mimics the serum protein hemopexin (HPX). According to various literatures, a reason for the failure of MMP as anti-cancer agent is thepresence of this HPX binding at the active site.Conclusion: A novel approach was carried to inhibit this binding by Carotal, (-)-Spathulenol, Tau.-Cadinol proteins from the plant I. aspalathoides. Keywords: Hemopexin, Matrix metalloproteinase, Indigofera aspalathoides, Molecular docking, Carotal, (-)-Spathulenol, Tau.-Cadinol

Technology mapping and adoption behaviour for sugarcane protection technologies by Dharmapuri District Sugarcane growers

Sugarcane is the second most important industrial crop in the country occupying about 5 million hectares of area with the production of 376.9 mt.  Although more than 40% of the cane area in the country is in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu ranks first in productivity of sugarcane. Even though Tamil Nadu is in higher productivity zone, the average farm level potential yield was very less which leads lot of scope for increasing production in Tamil Nadu. Sugarcane farmers from Tamil Nadu ranged from small to large. All the farmers not following all the recommended practices. Hence, a study is required to analyses the predominant technologies in the particular area and adoption behavior of the farmers to bridge the technological gap. With that idea in mind, a study has been taken up with the objectives that to document the technological mapping and to study the adoption behavior of sugarcane farmers at Subaramani Siva Co-operative Sugar Mill area in Dharmapui district of Tamil Nadu state. From Dharmapuri districts seven blocks were selected. From each block ten respondents were selected; thus 70 respondents were constituted for the study. The Study revealed that all the blocks are not similar in case of technologies, the predominant technologies are differing block to block. Adoption pattern for protection technologies reveled that integrated weed management was adopted by majority of the respondent. The technologies ‘pheromone trap’ and ‘soil trenching of recommended termiticides’ are not at all adopted by the respondents in the study area

The cientificWorldJOURNAL Research Article An Investigation into Occasional White Spot Syndrome Virus Outbreak in Traditional Paddy Cum Prawn Fields in India

study was undertaken to find out possible reasons for occasional occurrence of White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) outbreak in the traditional prawn farms adjoining Cochin backwaters. Physicochemical and bacteriological parameters of water and sediment from feeder canal and four shrimp farms were monitored on a fortnightly basis. The physicochemical parameters showed variation during the two production cycles and between the farms studied. Dissolved oxygen (DO) content of water from feeder canal showed low oxygen levels (as low as 0.8 mg/L) throughout the study period. There was no disease outbreak in the perennial ponds. Poor water exchange coupled with nutrient loading from adjacent houses resulted in phytoplankton bloom in shallow seasonal ponds which led to hypoxic conditions in early morning and supersaturation of DO in the afternoon besides considerably high alkaline pH. Ammonia levels were found to be very high in these ponds. WSSV outbreak was encountered twice during the study leading to mass mortalities in the seasonal ponds. The hypoxia and high ammonia content in water and abrupt fluctuations in temperature, salinity and pH might lead to considerable stress in the shrimps triggering WSSV infection in these traditional ponds

Prosthetics for Lower Limb Amputation

The Chapter will include a brief note on Amputation, Particularly Lower Limb Amputation (LLA), Levels and Causes of LLA. Importance of Prosthetics for LLA are explained in detail. The types of Prosthesis, Application (Donning & Doffing) of prosthesis are included in this chapter. Diagrammatic representation of the prosthesis are added too. Bio mechanical component is explained in detail within this chapter. The advantages and disadvantages of each and every Lower limb Prosthesis are clearly mentioned. Moreover, the Gait analysis & Training after the application of prosthesis are discussed. The reader will get a complete picture of Prosthetics for Lower limb Amputation by going through this chapter for lower limb prosthesis

Chaotic ionization of a stationary electron state via a phase space turnstile

The ionization of a highly excited Rydberg atom subjected to a periodic sequence of electric field impulses, or “kicks,” is chaotic. We focus on the dynamics of a single kicking period in order to isolate the ionization mechanism. Potassium Rydberg atoms, prepared in a quasi-one-dimensional state, are exposed to a sequence of ionization kicks, and the total fraction of ionized atoms is then measured. These experimental data are compared to a one-dimensional classical model. The classical analysis reveals that the ionization process is governed by a phase space turnstile—a geometric structure associated with chaotic transport in diverse systems. The turnstile geometry is reflected in the experimental data. Previous work explored the dependence of the turnstile geometry on the kicking period. The present work explores the dependence on the kicking strength. In particular, increasing the kicking strength allows us to observe the stretching of the turnstile lobe as it penetrates the region of phase space occupied by the electronic state, leading to a sharp rise in the total ionization fraction. This work thus highlights the importance of phase space geometry in organizing chaotic transport in atomic Systems

The simulation of biogas combustion in top open burner

The top open furnace is commonly used for the heating processes. The efficiency of the top open furnace is low due to the amount of heat wasted through the top open. This study was using ANSYS Fluent, a two-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model that was used to build the top open furnace. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) was installed in the boiler in order to collect the exhaust gas and reuse it to dilute the oxygen supply. To check the combustion of low calorific gas (LCV) gas, which is biogas composed of 60% methane and 40% carbon dioxide by mass fraction, the computational study started with a standard combustion with EGR. Medium-sized mesh is used for the smoothing grid. This mesh uses inflation to enable the size of the cells and the stack element. The findings of the numerical sensitivity test show that the boundary conditions along the combustion chamber wall can affect the flame temperatures. The MILD regime was reached using biogas fuels when the right parameters were used