Rating of Sweetness by Molar Refractivity and Ionization Potential: QSAR Study of Sucrose and Guanidine Derivatives

A quantitative structure activity relationship study of 31 sucrose derivatives and 30 guanidine derivatives has been undertaken. Their sweetness values, relative to sucrose (RS), have been taken from literature.  The study has been made with the help of CAChe Pro software by using eight descriptors, viz. electron  affinity, ionization potential, electrophilicity index, total energy, heat of formation, steric energy, molar refractivity and solvent accessible surface area. Multi-linear regression (MLR) analysis has been  performed with different combinations of descriptors and the quality of regression has been adjudged by the correlation coefficient, cross-validation coefficient and other statistical parameters like the standard error, standard error of the estimate, degrees of freedom, etc. The study indicates that ionization potential appears an important descriptor for sucrose derivatives, whereas molar refractivity appears an important descriptor for guanidine derivatives. The ionization potential alone and in combination with the electrophilicity index, molar refractivity and solvent accessibility surface area provide dependable QSARmodels for sucrose derivatives. Molar refractivity alone and in combination with solvent  accessibility surface area, ionization potential and heat of formation provide dependable QSAR models for guanidine derivatives. The predicted sweetness values obtained by these QSAR models are close to observed sweetness.KEYWORDS: Sweetness, sucrose, guanidine, DFT, PM3

Effect of N and K Fertilizers on Growth, Yield and Quality of Pear (Pyrus pyrifolia)

The effect of different combined doses of N and K fertilizers on plant growth, fruit quality and foliar elemental composition of pear cv. Patharnakh was investigated. Experimental plants were supplied with different levels of N (460, 690 and 920 g N /plant) and K (600, 900, 1200 and 1500 g K2O/plant) in the form of Urea and Muriate of Potash (MOP) fertilizers. From the results, it was found that nitrogen application increased number of fruits/plant, trunk cross-sectional area (TCSA), shoot length and leaf N content, whereas, K application improved fruit firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), and leaf K content. Fruits harvested from T4 (460 g N:1500 g K2O /plant) treatment recorded maximum firmness. Plants under T9 (920 g N: 600 g K2O /plant) treatment showed the maximum increase in shoot length, and TCSA, whereas, T6 (690 g N : 900 g K2O /plant) resulted in maximum fruit yield. Leaf N and K concentrations improved with applications of the respective fertilizer

Investigating IoT Middleware Platforms for Smart Application Development

With the growing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, the data generated through these devices is also increasing. By 2030, it is been predicted that the number of IoT devices will exceed the number of human beings on earth. This gives rise to the requirement of middleware platform that can manage IoT devices, intelligently store and process gigantic data generated for building smart applications such as Smart Cities, Smart Healthcare, Smart Industry, and others. At present, market is overwhelming with the number of IoT middleware platforms with specific features. This raises one of the most serious and least discussed challenge for application developer to choose suitable platform for their application development. Across the literature, very little attempt is done in classifying or comparing IoT middleware platforms for the applications. This paper categorizes IoT platforms into four categories namely-publicly traded, open source, developer friendly and end-to-end connectivity. Some of the popular middleware platforms in each category are investigated based on general IoT architecture. Comparison of IoT middleware platforms in each category, based on basic, sensing, communication and application development features is presented. This study can be useful for IoT application developers to select the most appropriate platform according to their application requirement

Effects of intermediate channels in isospin forbidden reactions

It is shown that intermediate channels can significantly contribute to isospin forbidden reactions. The properties of the apparent violation are discussed and experiments suggested to test the validity of the assumptions. The contributions of intermediate stripping channels to the 12C(d,d′12 C∗ (T=1) reaction is estimated

Original Article

Abstract Objectives: To observe if there is any connectivity between oxidative stress and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Materials and methods: Patients suffering from different cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, ischemic heart disease, rheumatic heart disease) attending Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara and strictly matched controls were selected for this study. Oxidative stress (OS) was measured by plasma thiobarbituric acid reacting substances (TBARS) where as antioxidant status was measured by estimating vitamin E, vitamin C and total antioxidant activity (TAA) in plasma. Results: The mean level of TBARS, TAA, vitamin C and E were 2.20+0.43 nmol/ml, 547+98 µmol/l, 0.88+0.15 mg/dl and 0.75+0.20 mg/dl respectively in patients. The respective values in controls were 1.86+0.43 nmol/ml, 859+139 µmol/l, 0.94+0.15 mg/dl and 1.10+0.30 mg/dl. Although the OS seems to be raised in patients, is practically insufficient to oxidize biomolecules and induce CVDs. Despite vitamin C and E levels being well within normal limits, the TAA was significantly and considerably lower in patients. This is a highly interesting observation suggesting that dietary antioxidants other than these vitamins were preferentially consumed to control OS because procedure for TAA used in this study practically measures only total dietary antioxidants. Conclusion: OS does not appear to be an etiological factor for the cardiovascular diseases; rather slightly raised OS in patients seems to be a consequence. Further the raised OS was not due to lower nutrient antioxidant (vit. C and vit. E) in the local population studied herein

Assessment of exposure to DDT and metabolites after indoor residual spraying through the analysis of thatch material from rural African dwellings

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.[Introduction] We report on the analysis of 4,4′-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (4,4′-DDT) and its metabolites in thatch and branch samples constituting the wall materials of dwellings from South African subtropical areas. This approach was used to assess the exposure to DDT in the residents of the dwellings after indoor residual spraying (IRS) following recommended sanitation practices against malaria vectors.[Discussion] Examination of the distributions of DDT compounds (2,4′-DDT, 4,4′-DDT and its metabolites) in 43 dwellings from the area of Manhiça (Mozambique) has shown median concentrations of 19, 130, and 23 ng/g for 2,4′-DDT, 4,4′-DDT, and 4,4′-DDE, respectively, in 2007 when IRS implementation was extensive. The concentrations of these compounds at the onset of the IRS campaign (n = 48) were 5. 5, 47, and 2. 2 ng/g, respectively. The differences were statistically significant and showed an increase in the concentration of this insecticide and its metabolites. Calculation of 4,4′-DDT in the indoor air resulting from the observed concentrations in the wall materials led to the characteristic values of environments polluted with this insecticide. © 2011 The Author(s).Funding was received from MICINN (INMA G03/176, Consolider Ingenio GRACCIE, CSD2007-00067), CSIC (PIF06-053), and ArcRisk EU Project (FP7-ENV-2008-1-226534).Peer reviewe

Identification of hip fracture patients from radiographs using Fourier analysis of the trabecular structure: a cross-sectional study

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Burden of malaria in pregnancy in Jharkhand State, India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Past studies in India included only symptomatic pregnant women and thus may have overestimated the proportion of women with malaria. Given the large population at risk, a cross sectional study was conducted in order to better define the burden of malaria in pregnancy in Jharkhand, a malaria-endemic state in central-east India.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cross-sectional surveys at antenatal clinics and delivery units were performed over a 12-month period at two district hospitals in urban and semi-urban areas, and a rural mission hospital. Malaria was diagnosed by Giemsa-stained blood smear and/or rapid diagnostic test using peripheral or placental blood.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>2,386 pregnant women were enrolled at the antenatal clinics and 718 at the delivery units. 1.8% (43/2382) of the antenatal clinic cohort had a positive diagnostic test for malaria (53.5% <it>Plasmodium falciparum</it>, 37.2% <it>Plasmodium vivax</it>, and 9.3% mixed infections). Peripheral parasitaemia was more common in pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in rural sites (adjusted relative risk [aRR] 4.31, 95%CI 1.84-10.11) and in those who were younger than 20 years (aRR 2.68, 95%CI 1.03-6.98). Among delivery unit participants, 1.7% (12/717) had peripheral parasitaemia and 2.4% (17/712) had placental parasitaemia. Women attending delivery units were more likely to be parasitaemic if they were in their first or second pregnancy (aRR 3.17, 95%CI 1.32-7.61), had fever in the last week (aRR 5.34, 95%CI 2.89-9.90), or had rural residence (aRR 3.10, 95%CI 1.66-5.79). Malaria control measures including indoor residual spraying (IRS) and untreated bed nets were common, whereas insecticide-treated bed nets (ITN) and malaria chemoprophylaxis were rarely used.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The prevalence of malaria among pregnant women was relatively low. However, given the large at-risk population in this malaria-endemic region of India, there is a need to enhance ITN availability and use for prevention of malaria in pregnancy, and to improve case management of symptomatic pregnant women.</p