Ultrafast infrared spectroscopy of nitrous oxide as a probe in salt water and supercritical sulfur hexafluoride

Different forms of ultrafast spectroscopy, namely two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy (2DIR) and pump probe spectroscopy, are used to determine spectral diffusion, vibrational energy relaxation (VER), and the dynamics of the solvent environments around probe molecules in various solutions. Supercritical fluids are valuable as potential green solvents, so it is important to explore and understand these dynamical processes in these solvents. Ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy was used to investigate the VER of nitrous oxide (N2O) dissolved in water with different concentrations of ionic salts. Chloride salts of different cations were used to determine changes in VER and reorientation anisotropy decay (R(t)) of N2O as a function of cation. These rates were found to be consistent with the Hoffmeister series trend of structure makers and structure breakers and showed evidence of cation effects on the water hydrogen bonding network beyond the first solvation shell. Ultrafast two-dimensional infrared (2DIR) spectroscopy of N2O’s asymmetric stretching (√3) mode in sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas resulted in rovibrational spectral lineshapes which show complicated behavior compared to 2DIR lineshapes of traditional condensed phase samples. There is an additional antidiagonal features which appears in the spectra of dense state points. These observed spectra indicate that there is a quasi-free rotor population, which is captured by a model including all 36 possible rovibrational density matrix pathways originating from a specific J-level. The decays of these 2DIR spectral features can be attributed to the N2O and SF6 collisions, roughly decaying on the scale of one to two collisions. Further 2DIR spectra were taken of the system in the supercritical regime of SF6. Even at these supercritical state points, the frequency correlation decay is still on the order of one to two collisions and confirm that an independent binary collision model is sufficient for describing rotational relaxation in these SCF solutions. Pump-probe spectroscopic measurements offer N2O √3 vibrational relaxation timescales ~10 times slower than spectral diffusion dynamics attributable to rotational relaxation. The growth of a “Q”-type 1 ← 0 √3 transition feature in the null region of the mid-IR spectrum is observed with increasing fluid density. Analysis based on these 2DIR results indicates this feature is a sign of liquid-like character in these solutions and that both hindered and quasi-free rotors exist in the same solvent environment in the dense and supercritical N2O – SF6 solution. This experimental methodology enables future lineshape studies on the effects of solvent interactions on vibrational and rotational relaxation rates, dynamics from non-equilibrium states at high temperature and pressures, and critical point solvation dynamics

Laparoscopy: the tool for infertility

Background: Most of the healthy couples conceive within a year after marriage. The infertility patients have become important part of clinical practice. Diagnostic and therapeutic Laparoscopy plays major role in the management of these cases. We investigated hale 50 infertile women with laparoscopy. This study was undertaken to ascertain the diagnostic and therapeutic role of Laparoscopy in female infertility.Methods: We evaluated 50 couples having infertility. The cases of primary and secondary infertility were evaluated. The laparoscopy was done under general anaesthesia. The pelvic organs were examined, and tubal patency was tested with chromo-perturbation by using Methylene blue dye. The findings were noted. The therapeutic intervention was done in the cases where it was necessary.Results: Total 50 cases of infertility were studied. Thirty were of primary infertility and 20 were of secondary infertility. The patients with primary infertility were younger with mean age of 20 years. The duration of infertility ranged from 1.5 to 8 years. We detected total 21 (42%) patients with ovarian pathology, 5 (10%) with tubal, four (8%) with peritoneal factor 3 (6%) with endometriosis. One patient had uterine fibroid and 16 (32%) cases had normal laparoscopic findings.Conclusion: This study supported the diagnostic and therapeutic value of laparoscopy in managing infertile women. It helped in detection of pelvic pathology. It also helped to plan further management in the form of IUI or IVF

Potentially inappropriate prescribing in elderly: a comparison of Beers and STOPP criteria in tertiary care

Background: Prescribing in elderly is a challenging task as they have age related physiological changes, various co-morbidities, altered pharmacological properties and higher propensity for adverse events. They are often prescribed medications which are potentially inappropriate for them, sometimes may even be unnecessary. The medicines are considered as inappropriate if the risk associated with them outweighs benefits. The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications (PIM) at a tertiary care teaching hospital according to the Beers updated 2015 criteria and STOPP criteria and to compare the two criteria in detection of PIMs.Methods: A prospective observational study involving 228 elderly patients (>65years) of medicine wards was conducted from October 2015 to March 2016. Relevant information was recorded in a predesigned proforma. The use of potentially inappropriate medications is assessed using Beers updated 2015 criteria and STOPP criteria using descriptive statistics.Results: The prevalence of PIM use in the sample was 26.31% according to the 2015 Beers criteria and 14.03% using the STOPP criteria. The most prevalent PIM according to the Beers criteria were sliding scale insulin (17.54%) and long acting benzodiazepines (5.26%); according to the STOPP criteria, they were aspirin in heart failure (5.26%) and chlorpheniramine (3.07%).Conclusions: The prevalence of PIM varied when different criteria were applied. The 2015 Beers criteria identified more PIM than the STOPP criteria

The prevalence of thyroid disorder in pregnancy

Background: The development of maternal thyroid disorders during early pregnancy can influence the pregnancy outcome and fetal development. The present study was conducted to know the prevalence of thyroid disorders in the Indian pregnant population and the obstetric outcomes of those women suffering from thyroid disorders. Methods: The present study was conducted on 100 women who came for an antenatal check-up in the first trimester, with Singleton Pregnancy. A detailed history was taken followed by a thorough general physical examination. Patients were sent for TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) testing. Patients were sent for TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) testing. If TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) was deranged, then FT3 and FT4 levels were checked. Depending upon the FT3 and FT4 values they are grouped as subclinical/overt hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. Results: Most of the patients in the present study were from the age group 21 to 30 years. The prevalence of thyroid disorders in the present study was 38%, including hypo and hyperthyroidism. 28% of patients were found to be hypothyroid; 10% of patients were hyperthyroid. Conclusions: The prevalence of thyroid disorders, especially hypothyroidism (28%) was high. Further studies are needed to assess adverse effects on maternal and fetal outcomes. Routine antenatal thyroid screening should be done.

Pattern of coronary artery occlusion in patients undergoing coronary angiography at Birat Medical College Teaching Hospital

Introduction: Coronary artery disease (CAD), is the leading cause of death globally. Among different diagnostic and treatment procedures, coronary angiography is considered the gold standard. Birat Medical College Teaching Hospital (BMCTH) is also providing cardiovascular services to people from eastern Nepal and from the neighboring country India. We aim to analyze the pattern of coronary artery occlusion in patients undergoing coronary angiography. Method: A hospital based observational cross-sectional study was conducted at BMCTH from 10 Sep 2022 to 10 Jan 2023. A total of 220 patients were enrolled by consecutive sampling techniques. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Committee of BMCTH.  Data was collected on baseline characteristics, risk factors, clinical presentation and degree of coronary artery occlusion. Collected data was entered in Microsoft Excel and analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23. Frequency, mean, percentage were calculated. Result: Nearly half (49.1%) patients had significant, 6(2.7%) had intermittent CAD and 14(6.4%) had non critical CAD. Three patients (1.4%) had left main coronary artery disease. Left anterior descending artery 66(30%) was the most commonly involved. Single vessel disease was present in most patients 49(22.27%).  Double vessel disease 15(46.8%) and triple vessel disease was more common 14(51.8%) in above 65 y of age. Conclusion: The coronary angiography revealed presence of significant coronary artery disease and multiple vessel involvement with increasing age

Test generation tool for end users : an empirical study

Spreadsheet programming is ubiquitous in businesses today. Spreadsheets are frequently created by end users with little or no programming experience. Unfortunately spreadsheets often contain errors. For example, 54 field audits of spreadsheets showed that 91 % of the spreadsheets contained errors [ 15]. Our research is aimed at bringing the benefits of software engineering to help end users create reliable spreadsheets without requiring that they first learn the underlying software engineering principles. Encouraging the end user to test spreadsheets as they incrementally develop them can help reduce errors. One methodology that has been developed to encourage the end users to test their spreadsheet is the "What You See Is What You Test" (WYSIWYT) methodology. WYSIWYT provides feedback about the testedness of individual cells and the entire spreadsheet. Although WYSIWYT has been effective in reducing errors while developing and maintaining spreadsheets, often a user realizes the need to test a particular part of the spreadsheet but is not sure how to generate test cases for that part. One of the recent additions to WYSIWYT methodology is a tool called "Help Me Test" (HMT). HMT makes the task of testing easy for the end user by helping him or her develop test cases. This work describes a think aloud study that investigated how well end users understand and use the HMT tool as they perform maintenance tasks and investigated the efficacy of the tool in performing these tasks. The study also provides insight about end user testing behavior

Thermal Analysis of disc Brakes Rotor: A comparative Report

In this paper, authors present our results of thermal analysis of disc brake rotor used by two-wheelers in India. The aim of this paper is to realize the purpose of the holes in the disk brake. Thermal analysis is done for two different models of rotors. One is a simple rotor without vents and holes and the other perforated (consists of holes). Researchers have tried to analyze the heat loss from a rotor which is considered to be heated by disc brake friction when in use. Researchers analyze the heat loss taking into account convection and radiation. The results are compared for both the discs. The initial condition assumed here is that the vehicle has stopped completely by application of brakes. Both the rotors are of same dimensions. The geometry of disc brake rotor is made in Solid-Works. The heat transfer analysis is done using ANSYS software. The analysis helps us to understand which of the two models is better in terms of performance, heat loss and manufacturing cost and hence extensively used in motorcycles in real world

Scalable Decision-Theoretic Planning in Open and Typed Multiagent Systems

In open agent systems, the set of agents that are cooperating or competing changes over time and in ways that are nontrivial to predict. For example, if collaborative robots were tasked with fighting wildfires, they may run out of suppressants and be temporarily unavailable to assist their peers. We consider the problem of planning in these contexts with the additional challenges that the agents are unable to communicate with each other and that there are many of them. Because an agent's optimal action depends on the actions of others, each agent must not only predict the actions of its peers, but, before that, reason whether they are even present to perform an action. Addressing openness thus requires agents to model each other's presence, which becomes computationally intractable with high numbers of agents. We present a novel, principled, and scalable method in this context that enables an agent to reason about others' presence in its shared environment and their actions. Our method extrapolates models of a few peers to the overall behavior of the many-agent system, and combines it with a generalization of Monte Carlo tree search to perform individual agent reasoning in many-agent open environments. Theoretical analyses establish the number of agents to model in order to achieve acceptable worst case bounds on extrapolation error, as well as regret bounds on the agent's utility from modeling only some neighbors. Simulations of multiagent wildfire suppression problems demonstrate our approach's efficacy compared with alternative baselines.Comment: Pre-print with appendices for AAAI 202

GENERATION DEPENDENT TARGETING POTENTIAL OF DONEPEZIL LOADED POLY (PROPYLENEIMINE) DENDRIMER THROUGH GOAT NASAL MUCOSA

Objective: In the domain of nano drug delivery, dendrimers are the most explored bioactive polymeric carrier system. The present work was aimed to study the diffusion potential of different generations of Poly (propyleneimine) (PPI) dendrimers on goat nasal mucosa in an ex vivo study and synthesize a stable dendrimer for olfactory drug delivery.Methods: The generations (3.0G, 4.0G, and 5.0G) of PPI dendrimer were synthesized, and PEGylated by MPEG 5000 and then loaded with donepezil. A comparative study was carried out among all generations in term of their drug loading capacity, stability, sustained release behaviour as well as for targeting efficacy. An ex-vivo study was carried out on Franz Diffusion Cell with goat nasal mucosa.Results: The developed G3, G4, and G5 dendrimerformulations had entrapment efficiency of 24.33±0.56%, 40.12±0.62%, and 60.4±0.6%, respectively. The nasal diffusion study revealed that 5.0G PPI dendrimer increased diffusion of donepezil up to 47% as compared to the pure solution of donepezil while 10% improvement in diffusion was seen as compared to 4.0 G PPI dendrimer. Thus obtained results claimed that the drug loading as well as targeting potential of PPI dendrimers increased with the increase in the number of generation. The investigation outcome indicated promising results of 5.0G PPI dendrimer over the 3.0G and 4.0G PPI dendrimer generations for their drug loading capacity, stability, and sustained release action.Conclusion: The 5.0G PPI dendrimer proved its superior candidature over the other lower generations of PPI dendrimers for drug delivery and drug targeting