Measurement of angular correlations between D\rm D mesons and charged particles in pp and p-Pb collisions with ALICE at the LHC

We have studied the azimuthal correlations between $\rm D^0$, $\rm D^+$ and $\rm D^{*+}$ mesons and charged particles in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7~\mathrm{TeV}$ and p-Pb collisions at ${\sqrt{s_{\scriptscriptstyle \rm NN}}}=5.02~\mathrm{TeV}$ at the Large Hadron Collider. D mesons were reconstructed from their hadronic decays in the central rapidity region and in the transverse-momentum range 3 $\le p_{T} \le$ 16 $\mathrm{GeV}/c$, and they were correlated to charged particles reconstructed in the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta| < 0.8$. A comparative study of the pp results with Monte Carlo Pythia studies and also with p-Pb results are presented here.Comment: Proceedings of the ICPAQGP,2015 conference, February 2-6, 2015. 6 pages, 5 figure

Follow up of Drug-Resistant Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients in a DRTB Center in First Fifteen Months of Treatment

Background and Objective: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is defined as resistant to both INH and Rifampicin with or without resistance to other first-line antitubercular drugs. The aim of the study was to assess the sputum culture conversion rate during first 12 months of treatment in drug-resistant TB patients, to assess the impact of comorbid illnesses and other factors on culture conversion by following up the patients up to 15 months after initiation of treatment. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective study comprising of 142 diagnosed patients of drug-resistant TB admitted in this center from April 2014 to March 2015 for treatment initiation, excluding extrapulmonary TB and already diagnosed extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). After pretreatment evaluation, standard second-line antitubercular drug (CAT-IV) was started. Patients were followed up in first 15 months of treatment. Results of sputum culture for mycobacteria at 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 12th months after treatment initiation were analyzed. Results: Sputum culture for mycobacteria was converted negative within one year in 95 cases (67%); whereas 18 patients died during follow up, 27 defaulted and 2 patients switched over to CAT-V after development of extended drug-resistance during follow up. Conclusion: Though drug-resistant tuberculosis (DRTB) is one of the biggest challenges to public health program in India, treatment with standardized second-line drugs under RNTCP have a favorable outcome as indicated by sputum culture conversion of as many as 67% of patients within one year in this study.

Forward-backward multiplicity and momentum correlations in pp and pPb collisions at the LHC energies

Correlations and fluctuations between produced particles in an ultra-relativistic nuclear collision remain one of the successor to understand the basics of the particle production mechanism. More differential tools like Forward-Backward (FB) correlations between particles from two different phase-space further strengthened our cognizance. We have studied the strength of FB correlations in terms of charged particle multiplicity and summed transverse momentum for proton-proton ($pp$) and proton-lead ($pPb$) collisions at the centre-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV and $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV respectively for the EPOS3 simulated events with hydrodynamical evolution of produced particles. Furthermore, the correlation strengths are separately obtained for the particles coming from the core and the corona. FB correlation strengths are examined as a function of psedorapidity gap ($\eta_{gap}$), psedorapidity window-width ($\delta\eta$), centre-of-mass energy ($\sqrt{s}$), minimum transverse momentum ($p_{Tmin}$) and different multiplicity classes following standard kinematical cuts used by the ALICE and the ATLAS experiments at the LHC for all three EPOS3 event samples. EPOS3 model shows a similar trend of FB multiplicity and momentum correlation strengths for both $pp$ \& $pPb$ systems, though the correlation strengths are found to be larger for $pPb$ system than $pp$ system. Moreover, $\delta\eta$-weighted average of FB correlation strengths as a function of different center-of-mass energies for $pp$ collisions delineates a tendency of saturation at very high energies.Comment: 10 Pages, 13 Figures, Accepted in Physical Review

Floral biology and phenological studies of Datura metel L. in Tripura, Northeast India, with special reference to floral morphotypes

Datura metel L. is an important medicinal plants of Tripura. There are four floral morpho-types found throughout India. The floral biology of four morpho-types of D. metel L. collected from different places of Tripura state have been investigated based on their morphological and palynological study. Initiation of the floral bud, anthesis, pollen viability, pollen germination, and pollen production are the topics covered in the present study. The present study includes photographic representations and UPGMA dendrogram for quick identification, as well as a detailed explanation of four morpho-types of the species.