Zoonotic Tuberculosis: A Concern and Strategies to Combat

Mycobacterium bovis is the main causal agent of bovine tuberculosis that causes zoonotic tuberculosis in humans. The most common routes of transmission of the agent to human are airborne transmission, consumption of unpasteurized milk, direct contact with infected animals or untreated animal products. Conventional diagnostic methods in combination with modern molecular and immunological techniques should be used for early and accurate diagnosis of the disease. Some of the challenges to tackle and eradicate zoonotic TB in developing countries are having many hosts, absence of early diagnosis, presence of other acute diseases, being economically unable to implement control strategies, and other social and cultural issues. Usually treatment is not recommended in animals but vaccination is carried out in some countries as a preventive measure. Due to the grave consequences of M. bovis infection on animal and human health, it is necessary to introduce accurate control measures to reduce the risk of disease in human and animal populations. Proper food hygiene practices, slaughter of the affected animals in developed countries, and segregation of the suspected animals in developing countries along with stronger intersectoral collaboration between the veterinary and medical professions are important for the control of the disease

Resistive Switching Property of Bmim(Br) Ionic Liquid under the Influence of ZnO Nanorods

The majority of the research work in the area of resistive switching has been carried out with the help of organic, inorganic and hybrid materials. Only a few reports investigate resistive switching properties of ionic liquid and soft materials. In this report, we have synthesized ZnO nanorods (NRs) and Bmim(Br) ionic liquid using simple and low-temperature chemical route i.e., hydrothermal and reflux method, respectively. The structural study of ZnO NRs indicates that the formation of hexagonal crystal structure, evident from the XRD pattern. The FESEM image suggested the formation of nanorods like morphology. The effect of dispersed ZnO NRs on the resistive switching behavior of Bmim(Br) ionic liquid was studied. The study explains the change in switching behavior by dispersing the different concentrations of ZnO NRs in ionic liquid. The results demonstrated that the dispersed ZnO NRs in ionic liquid plays a vital role and will be a potential active switching material for resistive switching applications

Prevalence of Scapulothoracic Dysfunction in Primipara after One Year of Delivery

Background: During pregnancy, there are various physiological, biomechanical, postural, and emotional changes taking place. The changes in posture which occurs during pregnancy are even maintained in postpartum period if they remain uncorrected. Due to the enlargement of breasts, size of the uterus, and mother’s weight, there is increase in lumbar and cervical lordosis and there is compensatory thoracic kyphosis, the shoulder and upper back become rounded. There is scapular protraction and internal rotation of the upper extremity; these adaptations of posture may also persist in the postpartum period due to infant care demands. Pectoralis muscles tightness and weakness of the scapular stabilizers may be pre-existing to or may occur due to pregnancy postural changes. Hence, there is a need of evaluating the upper quadrant musculoskeletal involvement during the postpartum period and its correlation with changes that occur during pregnancy. Objective: The objective of this study was to study the prevalence of scapulothoracic dysfunction in primipara after 1 year of delivery. Methods: A total 150 primipara women who had completed 1 year of delivery were randomly selected from the Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Karad in this analytical observational study. Scapulothoracic dysfunction was assessed using postural examination chart in the anterior, lateral and posterior views by plumb line, manual muscle testing for muscle strength, and special tests for scapular dysfunction. Results: The result showed that 71% found to be positive for scapulothoracic dysfunction through YES/NO test, respectively. Majority of the subjects (45%) had type II scapular dyskinesis, while 18% subjects had type I, 11% had type III, and 22% had type IV. On postural examination, 27% had forward head posture, 55% had protracted shoulder, and 60% had kyphotic posture. The strength test showed that 57% subjects had weak trapezius, 60% had serratus anterior weak and significant amount of weakness with gradings in the range of −3–+3 for 57% subjects in trapezius, 60% in serratus anterior, and 65% had weak rhomboid’s major with gradings in the range of −3–+3, respectively. Conclusion: The study concludes that, statistically, there was high prevalence of scapulothoracic dysfunction in primipara women after 1 year of delivery. This was due of the slouched posture that the women’s adapted due to increase in breast size, increased size of the uterus, breast feeding positioning, and also infant care which demanded hunched back posture. It was also found that women had lack of knowledge about posture

Effect of Glass Fibers on Self Compacting Concrete

Self Compacting Concrete (SCC) is a specially developed concrete for concreting under extreme condition of inaccessibility from heights. It is capable to flow under influence of its own weight. It could be used when encountered with dense reinforcement and complex structural design. Problem of segregation as well as bleeding is eliminated and vibration is not required for compaction. As concrete is strong in compression and weak in tension. Hence to make it strong in tension, discontinuous Anti-Crack high dispersion glass fibers are added. SCC mix prepared with addition of discontinuous glass fibers is called as Glass Fiber reinforced Self Compacting Concrete (GFRSCC). In this paper an experimental study has been carried out to check the effect of Anti-Crack high dispersion glass fibers on the compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength of SCC. The result show that, as compared to the Normal SCC, the compressive strength of GFRSCC increases by 2.80% and 12.42%, the split tensile strength of GFRSCC increases by 4.47% and 25.12% and the flexural strength of SCC increases by 6.57% and 14.34% when the Cem-FIL Anti-Crack HD glass fibers were added as 0.25% and 0.50% respectively by the weight of total cementitious material contents. The addition of 0.25% Cem-FIL Anti-Crack HD glass fibers to SCC has not much affect on the workability of Normal SCC. Whereas, addition of 0.50% Cem-FIL Anti-Crack HD glass fibers reduces the workability of SCC

Frugal discrete memristive device based on potassium permanganate solution

Many thin film-based devices with solid electrolytes have been studied for memristive applications. Herein, we report a simple and facile way to fabricate solution-based, low-cost, and discrete two-terminal memristive devices using the KMnO4 solution. The water and methanol were used as a solvent to prepare different concentrations of KMnO4 to carry out the optimization study. Furthermore, the effect of KMnO4 concentration with aqueous and methanol solvents was studied with the help of current-voltage, device charge, charge-flux, and cyclic endurance properties. Interestingly, all developed devices show the asymmetric time-domain charge and double valued charge-flux properties, suggesting that aqueous KMnO4 and methanol-KMnO4 based devices are non-ideal memristors or memristive devices. The statistical measures such as cumulative probability and coefficient of variation are reported for the memristive devices. The possible switching mechanism of the discrete memristive was tried to explain with the UV-visible spectrum and theoretical framework. The optimized device was further studied using the cyclic voltammogram, Bode plot, and Nyquist plot. An equivalent circuit was derived for the optimized discrete memristive device using electrochemical impendence spectroscopy results. The results of the present investigation are beneficial to develop programmable analog circuits, volatile memory, and synaptic devices using discrete memristive devices

Isolation and seroprevalence of Aeromonas spp. among common food animals slaughtered in Nagpur, Central India

Aeromonads are ubiquitous foodborne pathogens with a global distribution. Animal-origin foods and contaminated animals are the main sources of Aeromonas infection to humans. So far little is known about the occurrence of Aeromonas spp. in food-producing animals in India. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence and seroprevalence of Aeromonas species from 50 each of meat, blood, and sera samples collected from cattle, buffaloes, goats, and pigs slaughtered in and around Nagpur, Central India. Alkaline peptone water and ampicillin dextrin agar were used to isolate Aeromonas spp. An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was standardized by use of whole-cell antigen (WC) and outer membrane protein (OMP) of Aeromonas hydrophila (MTCC 646). Aeromonads were isolated from 44 (22%) of the meat samples, and 1 (0.5%) from the blood samples. Seroprevalence by indirect ELISA-based WC antigen was estimated as 68% in cattle, 44% in buffaloes, 60% in goats, and 30% in pigs. OMP-based ELISA yielded a seroprevalence of 56%, 48%, 52%, and 22% in cattle, buffaloes, goats, and pigs, respectively. The results revealed that OMP-based ELISA and WC-based ELISA were in agreement with one another. Isolation along with high seropositivity demonstrates the presence of foodborne Aeromonas spp. in the Nagpur city of Central India