Outcome of Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre based care for children with Severe Acute Malnutrition in Uttar Pradesh, India: Cross sectional Study

Background and Aim: Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) have been established for the facility-based management of children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM). The present study was conducted in two such centres in Uttar Pradesh, India to understand the epidemiological and clinical profile of admitted children and their outcome of treatment. Materials and Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Nutritional Rehabilitation centres at Lucknow and Barabanki district hospitals. All Children aged one to fifty-nine months admitted to these centres from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 were included in the study. Results: Around 28% infants diagnosed with SAM were less than 6 months of age. Majority (64.9%) of the admitted children were discharged with more than 15% of weight at admission, 28.9% were non-responders, 6.2% were defaulters and there were no deaths during the study period. Referrals directly from the community were seen in only 25.8% cases. Conclusion: Considering that around one-fourth of the children were discharged without adequate weight gain, measures to promote follow up should be given more focus. Referral from community level should be strengthened and more attention should be given for prevention of malnutrition in infants less than 6 months

Pulsed Laser Deposition of Transition Metal Dichalcogenides-Based Heterostructures for Efficient Photodetection

From the past few decades, photodetectors (PDs) are being regarded as crucial components of many photonic devices which are being used in various important applications. However, the PDs based on the traditional bulk semiconductors still face a lot of challenges as far as the device performance is concerned. To overcome these limitations, a novel class of two-dimensional materials known as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) has shown great promise. The TMDCs-based PDs have been reported to exhibit competitive figures of merit to the state-of-the-art PDs, however, their production is still limited to laboratory scale due to limitations in the conventional fabrication methods. Compared to these traditional synthesis approaches, the technique of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) offers several merits. PLD is a physical vapor deposition approach, which is performed in an ultrahigh-vacuum environment. Therefore, the products are expected to be clean and free from contaminants. Most importantly, PLD enables actualization of large-area thin films, which can have a significant potential in the modern semiconductor industry. In the current chapter, the growth of TMDCs by PLD for applications in photodetection has been discussed, with a detailed analysis on the recent advancements in this area. The chapter will be concluded by providing an outlook and perspective on the strategies to overcome the shortcomings associated with the current devices

Group III-Nitrides and Their Hybrid Structures for Next-Generation Photodetectors

In the last few decades, there has been a phenomenal rise and evolution in the field of III–Nitride semiconductors for optoelectronic applications such as lasers, sensors and detectors. However, certain hurdles still remain in the path of designing high-performance photodetectors (PDs) based on III-Nitride semiconductors considering their device performance. Recently, a lot of progress has been achieved in devices based on the high quality epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Being an ultra-high vacuum environment based-technique, MBE has enabled the realization of high-quality and highly efficient PDs which have exhibited competitive figures of merit to that of the commercial PDs. Moreover, by combining the novel properties of 2D materials with MBE-grown III-Nitrides, devices with enhanced functionalities have been realized which would pave a way towards the next-generation photonics. In the current chapter, the basic concepts about photodetection have been presented in detail, followed by a discussion on the basic properties of the III-Nitride semiconductors, and the recent advancements in the field of MBE-grown III-Nitrides-based PDs, with an emphasis on their hybrid structures. Finally, an outlook has been provided highlighting the present shortcomings as well as the unresolved issues associated with the present-day devices in this emerging field of research

ANTICONVULSANT EFFECT OF AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF AERIAL ROOT OF FICUS RELIGIOSA IN ANIMAL MODELS

Ficus religiosa commonly found tree in Indian sub-continent has numerous neuro-pharmacological effects including epilepsy in traditional medicine. Therefore, anticonvulsant effect of aqueous aerial root extract of F. religiosa at oral doses 25, 50 and 100 mg/kg was studied  using Maximum electroshock (MES) and Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) induced seizure models in mice. F. religiosa showed anticonvulsant effect dose dependently in MES & PTZ test. In MES model F. religiosa 100mg/kg significantly (p < 0.05) lowered duration of Tonic hind limb extension. In PTZ model, all three doses of F. religiosa significantly (p < 0.05)   increased latency to convulsion. These findings thus provide scientific evidence in support of the folkloric use of this plant in the management of epilepsy. Keywords: Anticonvulsant, Ficus religiosa, Maximum electroshock, Pentylenetetrazole, Roo

Formulation and optimization of Retapamulin loaded PLGA nanoparticles for burn wounds

In the present study, PLGA nanoparticles (PLGA-NP) of retapamulin (RP) were prepared and optimized by studying the effect of various formulation and process variables for effective delivery at burn wound site. Drug loaded PLGA-NP were successfully prepared and characterized by TEM, XRD and DSC study. Formulation and process variables like surfactant concentration, drug concentration, polymer concentration etc. showed significant effect on the particle size, entrapment efficiency and drug loading. PLGA-NP exhibited prolonged drug release following Higuchi release kinetics (R2= 0.9907). In vitro study demonstrated systemic escape of drug from PLGA-NP which might eliminate side effects associated with topical exposure through conventional treatment. Further retention of activity of entrapped drug was confirmed by in vitro antimicrobial assay. Optimized PLGA nanoparticle of Retapamulin was incorporated into PVA-Chitosan hydrogel slurry and casted into film to prepare multiphase hydrogel.Thus, present optimized system can be effectively used for delivery of drug at burn wound site in especially compromised wounds.&nbsp

A survey on enhancement of power system performances by optimally placed DG in distribution networks

This paper presents a survey on enhancement of power system performances by optimally placed distributed generations in distribution networks. Thedistribution power system performances such as minimization of real power loss, minimization of reactive power loss, improvement of voltage profile, short circuit current capacity, system average interruption duration index (SAIDI), customers average interruption duration index (CAIDI), power system oscillations, available power transfer capacity of system, loadability of the system, reliability and security of the system, power system stability etc. are consider in this survey paper as major issue in distribution networks. Such power system performances can be enhance by conventional devices as well as planning of DG technologies such as fuel cell, biogas, wind turbine, photovoltaic, solar, geo-thermal, tidal and wave etc. This survey paper is very much useful for scientific persons, engineers, industrial persons and researchers regarding with enhancement of power system performances by optimally placed distributed generations in distribution networks. Keywords: Artificial intelligence techniques, Distributed generation (DG), Distribution networks (DNs), Optimally placed distributed generation, Power system performance

Impact of Particle Crush-Size and Weight on Rock-Eval S2, S4, and Kinetics of Shales

The Rock-Eval technique in the last few decades has found extensive application for source rock analysis. The impact of shale particle crush-size and sample weight on key Rock-Eval measurements, viz. the S2 curve (heavier hydrocarbons released during the non-isothermal pyrolysis-stage) and the S4 curve (CO2 released from oxidation of organic matter during the oxidation-stage) are investigated in this study. For high and low total organic carbon (TOC) samples of different thermal maturity levels, it is apparent that particle crush-size has a strong influence on the results obtained from Rock-Eval analysis, with the effect being stronger in high-TOC samples. In comparison to the coarser-splits, S2 and pyrolyzable carbon (PC) were found to be higher for the finer crush sizes in all the shales studied. The S4CO2 oxidation curve shapes of Permian shales show contrasting signatures in comparison to the Paleocene-aged lignitic shale, both from Indian basins. A reduced TOC was observed with rising sample weight for a mature Permian shale from the Jharia basin, while the other shales sampled showed no significant reduction. The results indicate that the S4CO2 curve and the S4Tpeak, are strongly dependent on the type of organic-matter present and its level of thermal maturity. Sample weight and particle size both influence the S2-curve shapes at different heating rates. With increasing sample weights, an increase in S2-curve magnitude was observed for the shales of diverse maturities. These differences in the S2 curve shape lead to substantially different kinetic distributions being fitted to these curves. These findings are considered to have significant implications for the accuracy of reaction kinetics obtained from pyrolysis experiments using different sample characteristics

Bail: a matter of right or discretion in the criminal justice system in India

In criminal law, bail is also known as the right to liberty. It refers to everyone's right to liberty, which is also a basic right under Articles 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution. The right to bail allows individuals to continue about their everyday lives by enabling a person accused of a crime to be freed from jail. Despite the fact that there are various requirements for obtaining bail, under criminal law, a person is deemed innocent until proved guilty, and the courts and the constitution have adopted a liberal approach to this privilege. A sort of bail that permits a person to post bail before being arrested if they are charged with a certain offence is known as advance bail provision. The classification of charges as bailable or non-bailable expands this right. In cases of bailable offenses, bail can be requested as a matter of law and is almost never denied; however, in cases of non-bailable offenses, a request for bail can be made in good faith, and the courts' tendency to grant bail in most cases emphasizes the importance of this right in the individual context.&nbsp