Effect of atenolol and enalapril treatment on oxidative stress parameters in patients with essential hypertension

Background: Oxidative stress has emerged as an importantfactor in the pathophysiologyof hypertension. It alsocontributes to variouscomplicationsassociated with hypertension like vascular injury, atherosclerosis, renal dysfunction, and hypertensive end-organ damage. Present study was done to evaluate the effect of atenololand enalapril, twocommonly prescribed antihypertensive drugs, on oxidative stress in patients with hypertension.Method: Sixty newly diagnosed hypertensive patients wererandomlyassigned to either atenolol (n = 30) or enalapriltherapy(n = 30) and followed up forthe period ofthree months. Twenty normotensive healthy volunteers served as control.Plasma malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase and catalaselevelswere measuredat the time of enrollment and at the end of three months of antihypertensive treatment.Results: Plasmamalondialdehyde was significantly increased whereas superoxide dismutase and catalase were significantly reduced in newly diagnosed hypertensive patients compared to controls. After three months of enalapril therapy, plasmamalondialdehydewassignificantly reduced and superoxide dismutase and catalase were significantlyelevated. Atenolol therapyhad no effect on theseoxidative stress parameters.Conclusions: Enalapril therapy significantly reduced oxidative stress in contrast toatenolol.Thus enalapriltherapymay prove beneficial compared to atenolol bypreventing oxidative stressand related complications inhypertension in view of life long therapy required for the treatment of hypertension

Single magnon excited states of a Heisenberg spin-chain using a quantum computer

Excited states of spin-chains play an important role in condensed matter physics. We present a method of calculating the single magnon excited states of the Heisenberg spin-chain that can be efficiently implemented on a quantum processor for small spin chains. Our method involves finding the stationary points of the energy vs wavenumber curve. We implement our method for 4-site and 8-site Heisenberg Hamiltonians using numerical techniques as well as using an IBM quantum processor. Finally, we give an insight into the circuit complexity and scaling of our proposed method.Comment: 12 Pages, 15 figure

Epitaxial strain modulated electronic properties of interface controlled nickelate superlattice

Perovskite nickelate heterostructure consisting of single unit cell of EuNiO$_3$ and LaNiO$_3$ have been grown on a set of single crystalline substrates by pulsed laser interval deposition to investigate the effect of epitaxial strain on electronic and magnetic properties at the extreme interface limit. Despite the variation of substrate in-plane lattice constants and lattice symmetry, the structural response to heterostructuring is primarily controlled by the presence of EuNiO$_3$ layer. In sharp contrast to bulk LaNiO$_3$ or EuNiO$_3$, the superlattices grown under tensile strains exhibit metal to insulator transition (MIT) below room temperature. The onset of magnetic and electronic transitions associated with the MIT can be further separated by application of large tensile strain. Furthermore, these transitions can be entirely suppressed by very small compressive strain. X-ray resonant absorption spectroscopy measurements reveal that such strain-controlled MIT is directly linked to strain induced self-doping effect without any chemical doping.Comment: Accepted in Phys. Rev.

Electronic structure of boron and aluminum δ\delta-doped layers in silicon

Recent work on atomic-precision dopant incorporation technologies has led to the creation of both boron and aluminum $\delta$-doped layers in silicon with densities above the solid solubility limit. We use density functional theory to predict the band structure and effective mass values of such $\delta$ layers, first modeling them as ordered supercells. Structural relaxation is found to have a significant impact on the impurity band energies and effective masses of the boron layers, but not the aluminum layers. However, disorder in the $\delta$ layers is found to lead to significant flattening of the bands in both cases. We calculate the local density of states and doping potential for these $\delta$-doped layers, demonstrating that their influence is highly localized with spatial extents at most 4 nm. We conclude that acceptor $\delta$-doped layers exhibit different electronic structure features dependent on both the dopant atom and spatial ordering. This suggests prospects for controlling the electronic properties of these layers if the local details of the incorporation chemistry can be fine tuned.Comment: Main text 8 pages, 6 figures + Appendices 3 pages, 2 figure

A case of inferior lumbar hernia

In this article we report a case of inferior lumbar hernia. The patient underwent preperitoneal meshplasty. The patient is well on follow up with no recurrence. The relevant literature has been reviewed and management discussed in brief

Induction and measurement of minute flow rates through nanopipes

A simple technique to simultaneously induce fluid flow through an individual nanopipe and measure the flow rate and the pressure difference across the pipe is described. Two liquid drops of different sizes are positioned at the two ends of the nanopipe. Due to the higher capillary pressure of the smaller drop, flow is driven from the smaller drop to the bigger drop. The instantaneous pressures of the two drops are estimated from the drops\u27 shapes and sizes. The flow rate is estimated by monitoring the sizes of the drops as functions of time with a microscope and a video camera. A theory that correlates the drops\u27 sizes and the flow rate is derived. Measurements are carried out with an ionic salt and glycerin to estimate the effective tube radius of the nanopipes with diameters ranging from 200 to 300 nm. The tubes\u27 diameters are independently measured with a scanning electron microscope. The method is also verified by tracking the motion of fluorescent particles through the nanopipe. The paper provides a simple technique for studying extremely low flow rates in nanofluidic systems. When working with low-evaporation fluids such as ionic salts, the measurements can be carried out with an electron microscope

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Status of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections and Evaluation of PVL Producing Strains in Belgaum, South India

Background: Panton Valentine Leukocidin (PVL) toxin, responsible for increased virulence and more severe infections can be found in both Methicillin-sensitive and Methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA and MRSA). Aims & Objectives: To generate baseline data on the extent of MRSA infections and to estimate the frequency of PVL-positive S.aureus in Belgaum, South India. Material & Methods: 70 clinical isolates of S.aureus were obtained from various laboratories in Belgaum city. Theseisolates were identified, phenotypically characterized as MRSA/MSSA by disc diffusion method using oxacillin discs (1 µg) and genetically by multiplex PCR for mecA and fem B genes. PCR was subsequently carried out on all isolates to detect LukS-PV and LukF-PV genes, the markers for potential producers of PVL toxin. Results: 27 out of 70 isolates (38.6%) were confirmed as MRSA by PCR formecA. The prevalence of PVL gene was 85.1% and 48.8% in MRSA and MSSA respectively. The overall prevalence of PVL positive S.aureuswas 62.85%. Conclusion: Our study showed high percentage of PVL positive MRSA and MSSA, higher than the most reports worldwide. In the backdrop of bacterial strains gaining multiple drug resistance, our study warrants further epidemiological studies in hospitals and community levels in the region

A novel, highly discriminatory risk model predicting acute severe right ventricular failure in patients undergoing continuous‐flow left ventricular assist device implant

Various risk models with differing discriminatory power and predictive accuracy have been used to predict right ventricular failure (RVF) after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) placement. There remains an unmet need for a contemporary risk score for continuous flow (CF)‐LVADs. We sought to independently validate and compare existing risk models in a large cohort of patients and develop a simple, yet highly predictive risk score for acute, severe RVF. Data from the Mechanical Circulatory Support Research Network (MCSRN) registry, consisting of patients who underwent CF‐LVAD implantation, were randomly divided into equal‐sized derivation and validation samples. RVF scores were calculated for the entire sample, and the need for a right ventricular assist device (RVAD) was the primary endpoint. Candidate predictors from the derivation sample were subjected to backward stepwise logistic regression until the model with lowest Akaike information criterion value was identified. A risk score was developed based on the identified variables and their respective regression coefficients. Between May 2004 and September 2014, 734 patients underwent implantation of CF‐LVADs [HeartMate II LVAD, 76% (n = 560), HeartWare HVAD, 24% (n = 174)]. A RVAD was required in 4.5% (n = 33) of the patients [Derivation cohort, n = 15 (4.3%); Validation cohort, n = 18 (5.2%); P = 0.68)]. 19.5% of the patients (n = 143) were female, median age at implant was 59 years (IQR, 49.4–65.3), and median INTERMACS profile was 3 (IQR, 2–3). RVAD was required in 4.5% (n = 33) of the patients. Correlates of acute, severe RVF in the final model included heart rate, albumin, BUN, WBC, cardiac index, and TR severity. Areas under the curves (AUC) for most commonly used risk predictors ranged from 0.61 to 0.78. The AUC for the new model was 0.89 in the derivation and 0.92 in the validation cohort. Proposed risk model provides very high discriminatory power predicting acute severe right ventricular failure and can be reliably applied to patients undergoing placement of contemporary continuous flow left ventricular assist devices.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150536/1/aor13413_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150536/2/aor13413.pd