Geochemical characterization of oceanic basalts using Artificial Neural Network

The geochemical discriminate diagrams help to distinguish the volcanics recovered from different tectonic settings but these diagrams tend to group the ocean floor basalts (OFB) under one class i.e., as mid-oceanic ridge basalts (MORB). Hence, a method is specifically needed to identify the OFB as normal (N-MORB), enriched (E-MORB) and ocean island basalts (OIB)

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p<0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p<0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised

A Comprehensive View of Manganese Nodules and Volcanics of the Central Indian Ocean Basin

The Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) is the most studied basin in the Indian Ocean because of the Indian Manganese Nodules program. During the last two and half decades (and also on going), immense efforts have been made to investigate the nodule domain so as to locate the first generation nodule mine field. Over 4 million sq.km of the sea floor in the CIOB was surveyed using different samplers and echo sounders (single and multibeam). The basic requirement to identify the mine site was the abundance of the nodules (weight in kg/m2), grade of the nodule (i.e., combined percentage of Ni + Cu + Co) and the topography of the area. Various aspects related with nodules have been inspected resulting in a number of research publications, and a model derived for the growth and location of mineable ferromanganese deposits in the CIOB. Besides the ferromanganese deposits, this paper also deals with the physiographic features (seamounts, fracture zones), sediment types and on a variety of volcanics and hydrothermal materials recovered from the CIOB. It is inferred that the volcanics constitute an important part of the basin and have influenced the growth of the ferromanganese deposits. We observe that in the CIOB the presence of seamounts, types of volcanics, episodes of volcanism and altered products vis-à-vis the distribution of ferromanganese deposits are intrinsically woven and complement one another

Coastal Placer Minerals

42-46India is blessed with a long coastline, rich sources of coastal placer minerals

A petrogenetic model of basalts from the Northern Central Indian Ridge: 3-11° S

Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts (MORB) from the Northern Central Indian Ridge (NCIR) were recovered between latitudes 3° and 11° S and are olivine tholeiite with higher abundances of K and Rb. They are of typical transitional MORB (T-MORB) variety and appear to have been generated from an enriched-mantle peridotite source. The primitive NCIR MORBs having #Mg > 0.68 are the product of partial melting at an estimated pressure of ~ 10 kbar. It is inferred that the magma was subsequently modified at a pressure > 10 kbar by crystal fractionation and spinel was the first mineral to crystallize followed by separation of relatively Fe-rich olivine with subsequent decrease in pressure. During progressive fractionation at lower pressure (between 10–5 GPa), the bulk composition of the magma became systematically depleted in MgO, and enriched in total FeOt, TiO2, P2O5 and Na2O. There was, however, limited gradual depletion in Al2O3 and CaO and concomitant enrichment in K2O. With the progressive fractionation these basalts became gradually enriched in V, Co, Y, Zr and to some extent in Sr, and depleted in Ni and Cr. In addition, the total REE of the magma also increased with fractionation, without any change in (La/Yb)N value

Characteristics and genesis of phillipsite grains in a sediment core from the Central Indian ocean basin

Present study is the phillipsite grains present in a siliceous sediment core (water depth 5100 m) recovered near a seamount from the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB). Phillipsite occurs as single grains, cruciform crystals and as simple to complex twinned forms. Chemical composition (av SiO2 56 wt%, Al2O3 19 wt%, Na2O 3 wt%, K2O 9 wt%) and the Si/Al ratio (av 2.58) of the phillipsite are comparable with those reported from the Pacific Ocean. The formation of phillipsite depends on parameters such as the availability and type of precursors, the pH-Eh conditions, formation time and temperature, and type of processes. Low temperature halmyrolysis of precursors such as altered basaltic fragments and palagonite resulted in intra-sedimentary diagenesis and formation of abundant phillipsite grains

Glass and mineral chemistry of northern central Indian ridge basalts: compositional diversity and petrogenetic significance

The glass and mineral chemistry of basalts examined from the northern central Indian ridge (NCIR) provides an insight into magma genesis around the vicinity of two transform faults: Vityaz (VT) and Vema (VM). The studied mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs) from the outer ridge flank (VT area) and a near-ridge seamount (VM area) reveal that they are moderately phyric plagioclase basalts composed of plagioclase (phenocryst An(60-90)] and groundmass An(35-79)]), olivine (Fo(81-88)), diopside (Wo(45-51), En(25-37), Fs(14-24)), and titanomagnetite (FeOt similar to 63.75 wt% and TiO2 similar to 22.69 wt%). The whole-rock composition of these basalts has similar Mg# mole Mg/mole(Mg+Fe2+)] (VT basalt: similar to 0.56-0.58; VM basalt: similar to 0.57), but differ in their total alkali content (VT basalt: similar to 2.65; VM basalt: similar to 3.24). The bulk composition of the magma was gradually depleted in MgO and enriched in FeOt, TiO2, P2O5, and Na2O with progressive fractionation, the basalts were gradually enriched in Y and Zr and depleted in Ni and Cr. In addition, the Sigma REE of magma also increased with fractionation, without any change in the (La/Yb)(N) value. Glass from the VM seamount shows more fractionated characters (Mg#: 0.56-0.57) compared to the outer ridge flank lava of the VT area (Mg#: 0.63-0.65). This study concludes that present basalts experienced low-pressure crystallization at a relatively shallow depth. The geochemical changes in the NCIR magmas resulted from fractional crystallization at a shallow depth. As a consequence, spinel was the first mineral to crystallize at a pressure > 10 kbar, followed by Fe-rich olivine at < 10 kbar pressure