Fabrication of High Surface Area Microporous ZnO from ZnO/Carbon Sacrificial Composite Monolith Template

Fabrication of porous materials from the standard sacrificial template method allows metal oxide nanostructures to be produced and have several applications in energy, filtration and constructing sensing devices. However, the low surface area of these nanostructures is a significant drawback for most applications. Here, we report the synthesis of ZnO/carbon composite monoliths in which carbon is used as a sacrificial template to produce zinc oxide (ZnO) porous nanostructures with a high specific surface area. The synthesized porous oxides of ZnO with a specific surface area of 78 m(2)/g are at least one order of magnitude higher than that of the ZnO nanotubes reported in the literature. The crucial point to achieving this remarkable result was the usage of a novel ZnO/carbon template where the carbon template was removed by simple heating in the air. As a high surface area porous nanostructured ZnO, these synthesized materials can be useful in various applications including catalysis, photocatalysis, separation, sensing, solar energy harvest and Zn-ion battery and as supercapacitors for energy storage

10mg versus 5mg initiation dose of Warfarin to achieve adequate anticoagulation in the treatment of acute deep vein thrombosis: A Randomized Control Trial

INTRODUCTION: Current practices in the treatment of acute deep vein thrombosis involve oral anticoagulation to maintain an INR between 2 and 3, most commonly with Warfarin. Researchers have tried to establish how best to achieve this target quickly, safely and effectively but with varying results. This study aims to determine if a 10mg initial dose of warfarin achieves adequate anticoagulation faster than initiation with a 5mg dose. METHODS: A randomized control trial was performed on inpatients diagnosed to have acute deep vein thrombosis and being started on Warfarin. . Sample size calculated for a superiority trial, with alpha value 5%, power 95%, with 10mg reaching primary end point by 4.2 days and 5mg reaching same by 5.6 days and a standard deviation of 1.4 days, and no predicted cross-over is 26 in each arm, or 52 in total. A target sample size of 60 was decided to account for attrition. Consenting participants who met selection criteria were randomly allocated to either a 10mg initiation group or a 5mg initiation group and received therapy accordingly. The patients were monitored until they reached the primary end point of two consecutive INR values between 2 and 3, or a secondary end point such as death, bleeding complication or withdrawal from the study. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The 10mg arm of the trial reached therapeutic INR value faster than the 5mg arm with a p-value of 0.02. There was no statistically significant increased risk of bleeding in either arm. Further studies however are required before these results can be translated to changes in clinical practice guidelines

Early Life Child Micronutrient Status, Maternal Reasoning, and a Nurturing Household Environment have Persistent Influences on Child Cognitive Development at Age 5 years : Results from MAL-ED

Funding Information: The Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development Project (MAL-ED) is carried out as a collaborative project supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foundation for the NIH, and the National Institutes of Health/Fogarty International Center. This work was also supported by the Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health (D43-TW009359 to ETR). Author disclosures: BJJM, SAR, LEC, LLP, JCS, BK, RR, RS, ES, LB, ZR, AM, RS, BN, SH, MR, RO, ETR, and LEM-K, no conflicts of interest. Supplemental Tables 1–5 and Supplemental Figures 1–3 are available from the “Supplementary data” link in the online posting of the article and from the same link in the online table of contents at https://academic.oup.com/jn/. Address correspondence to LEM-K (e-mail: [email protected]). Abbreviations used: HOME, Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment inventory; MAL-ED, The Etiology, Risk Factors, and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development Project; TfR, transferrin receptor; WPPSI, Wechsler Preschool Primary Scales of Intelligence.Peer reviewe

Early life child micronutrient status, maternal reasoning, and a nurturing household environment have persistent influences on child cognitive development at age 5 years: Results from MAL-ED

Background: Child cognitive development is influenced by early-life insults and protective factors. To what extent these factors have a long-term legacy on child development and hence fulfillment of cognitive potential is unknown. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relation between early-life factors (birth to 2 y) and cognitive development at 5 y. Methods: Observational follow-up visits were made of children at 5 y, previously enrolled in the community-based MAL-ED longitudinal cohort. The burden of enteropathogens, prevalence of illness, complementary diet intake, micronutrient status, and household and maternal factors from birth to 2 y were extensively measured and their relation with the Wechsler Preschool Primary Scales of Intelligence at 5 y was examined through use of linear regression. Results: Cognitive T-scores from 813 of 1198 (68%) children were examined and 5 variables had significant associations in multivariable models: mean child plasma transferrin receptor concentration (β: −1.81, 95% CI: −2.75, −0.86), number of years of maternal education (β: 0.27, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.45), maternal cognitive reasoning score (β: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.15), household assets score (β: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.24, 1.04), and HOME child cleanliness factor (β: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.05, 1.15). In multivariable models, the mean rate of enteropathogen detections, burden of illness, and complementary food intakes between birth and 2 y were not significantly related to 5-y cognition. Conclusions: A nurturing home context in terms of a healthy/clean environment and household wealth, provision of adequate micronutrients, maternal education, and cognitive reasoning have a strong and persistent influence on child cognitive development. Efforts addressing aspects of poverty around micronutrient status, nurturing caregiving, and enabling home environments are likely to have lasting positive impacts on child cognitive development.publishedVersio

ZnO Nanoparticle Fortified Highly Permeable Carbon/Silica Monoliths as a Flow-Through Media

We demonstrate a facile one-pot synthesis of porous “flow-through” ZnO nanoparticle impregnated carbon/silica monoliths with high mechanical strength and interconnected end-to-end pores decorated with functional and catalytic nanoparticles. The materials and conditions for the synthesis were tailored to achieve the desired properties of high mechanical strength, good flow-through permeability, and crack-free morphology. Monoliths were prepared from a resorcinol formaldehyde rout but with the addition of tetraethyl-orthosilicate and a metal oxide precursor, ZnCl₂. The monoliths were ambient dried and carbonized under optimized conditions to suppress cracks. Compressive tests of both the resin and carbonized monoliths were performed to examine the effect of the metal oxide precursor on the mechanical properties. The permeability of the monoliths was determined to verify their utility as a flow-through material. The monoliths exhibited a high compressive modulus of ∼30 MPa compared with conventional carbon aerogels and a permeability of ∼10^–12 m². Various characterization techniques were used to analyze the surface morphology, pore texture, and chemical composition of the monoliths. Finally, Ag nanoparticles were incorporated in the monoliths to demonstrate an example of a “flow-through” catalysis application where controlled catalytic conversion of <i>para</i>-nitrophenol into <i>para</i>-aminophenol could be achieved in a continuous flow reactor mode

Comparative evaluation of quality management practices in the public and private hospitals in Visakhapatnam District: An original research

Background: In the Visakhapatnam District, this study compares the quality management procedures used by public and private hospitals. Knowing how these practices are similar and different from one another can help inform policy decisions and improve the quality of health care. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used, and 100 hospitals from both public (50 hospitals) and private (50 hospitals) were included in the sample size. A standardized questionnaire that evaluated different aspects of quality management practices was used to gather the data. Descriptive statistics and inferential tests were used in the quantitative analysis. Results: Significant variations in quality management procedures between public and private hospitals were found. In terms of patient happiness, service responsiveness, and technological use, private hospitals scored better. Regarding accessibility, cost, and equity of healthcare services, public hospitals fared better. Conclusion: The report emphasizes the necessity of focused initiatives to improve quality management procedures in both public and commercial institutions. Collaboration between the two sectors can make it easier to deploy evidence-based tactics and share best practices to raise overall healthcare quality in the Visakhapatnam area

Unintentional injuries among children aged 1–5 years: understanding the burden, risk factors and severity in urban slums of southern India

Abstract Background Globally, 5.82 million deaths occurred among children under the age of five years in 2015 and injury specific mortality rate was 73 per 100,000 population. In India, injury specific mortality rate is around 2.1 per 1000 live births contributing to 4% of the total under 5 mortality rate. This study aims to estimate the burden and understand factors associated with unintentional injuries among children aged 1–5 years residing in urban slums of Vellore, southern India. We also attempted to assess the hazards posed by the living environment of these children and study their association with unintentional injury patterns. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in eight urban slums of Vellore, southern India and primary caregivers of children aged 1–5 years were interviewed with a questionnaire to obtain the details of injuries sustained in the past three months. Environmental hazard risk assessment was conducted at places frequented by these children and their scores calculated. Baseline prevalence and incidence rates of unintentional injuries were estimated. Multivariate logistic regression and poisson regression analysis were performed to examine factors associated with unintentional injuries and repeated injuries respectively. Association between environmental hazard risk and unintentional injuries was estimated. Results Prevalence of unintentional injuries was 39.1% (95% CI 35.4–42.9%) and incidence rate was 16.5 (95% CI 14.7–18.3) per 100 child months (N = 662). Bivariate analysis revealed that children of working mothers (OR 1.48; 1.01–2.18) and children from overcrowded families (OR 1.78; 1.22–2.60) had increased odds of sustaining unintentional injuries. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that children from overcrowded families had increased odds of sustaining unintentional injuries (AOR 1.66, 95% CI 1.14–2.41). Boys (IRR 1.33, 95% CI 1.07–1.66) and children from overcrowded families (IRR 1.50; 1.14–1.98) were at increased risk of having repeated injuries. There is an increase in incidence rate of injuries with an increased environmental hazard risk, although not statistically significant. Conclusions The burden of unintentional injuries was very high among study children when compared to studies in other urban slums in India. Environment plays an important role in the epidemiology of unintentional injuries; providing safe play environment and adequate supervision of children is important to reduce its burden

Full breastfeeding protection against common enteric bacteria and viruses: Results from the MAL-ED cohort study

Background Breastfeeding is known to reduce the risk of enteropathogen infections, but protection from specific enteropathogens is not well characterized. Objective The aim was to estimate the association between full breastfeeding (days fed breast milk exclusively or with nonnutritive liquids) and enteropathogen detection. Methods A total of 2145 newborns were enrolled at 8 sites, of whom 1712 had breastfeeding and key enteropathogen data through 6 mo. We focused on 11 enteropathogens: adenovirus 40/41, norovirus, sapovirus, astrovirus, and rotavirus, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), Campylobacter spp., and typical enteropathogenic E. coli as well as entero-aggregative E. coli, Shigella and Cryptosporidium. Logistic regression was used to estimate the risk of enteropathogen detection in stools and survival analysis was used to estimate the timing of first detection of an enteropathogen. Results Infants with 10% more days of full breastfeeding within the preceding 30 d of a stool sample were less likely to have the 3 E. coli and Campylobacter spp. detected in their stool (mean odds: 0.92–0.99) but equally likely (0.99–1.02) to have the viral pathogens detected in their stool. A 10% longer period of full breastfeeding from birth was associated with later first detection of the 3 E. coli, Campylobacter, adenovirus, astrovirus, and rotavirus (mean HRs of 0.52–0.75). The hazards declined and point estimates were not statistically significant at 3 mo. Conclusions In this large multicenter cohort study, full breastfeeding was associated with lower likelihood of detecting 4 important enteric pathogens in the first 6 mo of life. These results also show that full breastfeeding is related to delays in the first detection of some bacterial and viral pathogens in the stool. As several of these pathogens are risk factors for poor growth during childhood, this work underscores the importance of exclusive or full breastfeeding during the first 6 mo of life to optimize early health.publishedVersio