Prakara Yogas as an Immunomodulator during Infancy - A Critical Evaluation

Infancy is a crucial phase where the child comes across many mild to life threatening infections. The immunodeficiency of this period is compensated to some extend by the vertically transmitted antibodies from mother, exclusive breast feeding and through proper vaccination. But the protection offered by the maternal antibodies is transient and wanes off within 1 year. Concept of exclusive breastfeeding cannot be met in all circumstances especially in working mothers. Vaccinations provide protection against specific infections. In the present setting of pandemic, where the difficulties faced in tackling the spread of infections are witnessed, vaccinations become chaotic due to the unpredictable mutations of microbes. At this juncture arises the need for a well-built generalized immunity that will protect against a number of infections irrespective of the causative organism. Prakara Yogas are various immunomodulatory formulations elaborated in the textbook Arogyaraksha Kalpadruma that are scheduled to be administered during childhood in order to prevent diseases. The drug combinations in Prakara Yogas counteract the expected Dosha Vaishamya at specific ages, stabilize Agni and enhances immunity thereby preventing the onset of diseases. For protecting our future generations, usage of these formulations should be promoted for boosting their innate immunity, rather than attaining disease specific immunity against diseases through vaccination. This paper elaborates Prakara Yogas advised during infancy and also an attempt is made to critically analyse the formulations in aiding immunomodulation

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MULTIPULSE AC-DC CONVERTERS IN VCIMD

ABSTRACT: Power electronic devices are non-linear loads; the non linear nature of these switching devices causes harmonic current injection into the ac mains there by polluting the Power Quality (PQ) at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC). This PQ improvement is achieved by using multi-pulse converters in THREE-PHASE AC-DC Converters (ADCs). The proposed multi-pulse ac-dc converter is based on autotransformer configurations and is able to eliminate lower order harmonics in the ac supply current. This paper describes the comparative analysis of different types of multipulse converters in vector controlled induction motor drives (VCIMD). The proposed multi-pulse ac-dc converter is designed and the simulation model is developed in MATLAB. Keywords: Autotransformer, multi-pulse AC-DC converter, passive filter, harmonic mitigator, power quality improvement and Vector-Controlled Induction Motor Drive (VCIMD). I.INTRODUCTION The use of induction motors has been increased in industrial applications due to their advantages such as improved efficiency, ruggedness, reliability and low cost. So for variable speed drives dc motors have been used because of their flexible characteristics The proposed multi-pulse ac-dc converters those are suitable for retrofit re to feed vector controlled induction motor drive (VCIMD) II. DESIGN OF PROPOSED 12-PULSE AND 24-PULSE AC-DC CONVERTERS The design of the suitable autotransformer for these proposed multi-pulse ac-dc converters along with the design of a reduced rating passive tuned filter for effective harmonic filtering. A. Design Of the Proposed 12-Pulse Ac-Dc Converter: To design the 12-pulse ac-dc converter, we have to select the mainly two conditions. First condition is, Two sets of balanced three-phase line voltages are to be produced, which are either or out of phase with respect to each other. Second the magnitude of these line voltages should be equal to each other to result in reduced ripple in output dc voltage. Simulink model of 12-pulse ac-dc converter based proposed harmonic mitigator fed VCIMD is shown i

Eco-friendly nanocomposites derived from geranium oil and zinc oxide in one step approach

Nanocomposites offer attractive and cost-effective thin layers with superior properties for antimicrobial, drug delivery and microelectronic applications. This work reports single-step plasmaenabled synthesis of polymer/zinc nanocomposite thin films via co-deposition of renewable geranium essential oil-derived polymer and zinc nanoparticles produced by thermal decomposition of zinc acetylacetonate. The chemical composition, surfaces characteristics and antimicrobial performance of the designed nanocomposite were systematically investigated. XPS survey proved the presence of ZnO in the matrix of formed polymers at 10 W and 50 W. SEM images verified that the average size of a ZnO nanoparticle slightly increased with an increase in the power of deposition, from approximately 60 nm at 10 W to approximately 80 nm at 50 W. Confocal scanning laser microscopy images showed that viability of S. aureus and E. coli cells significantly reduced on surfaces of ZnO/polymer composites compared to pristine polymers. SEM observations further demonstrated that bacterial cells incubated on Zn/Ge 10 W and Zn/Ge 50 W had deteriorated cell walls, compared to pristine polymers and glass control. The release of ZnO nanoparticles from the composite thin films was confirmed using ICP measurements, and can be further controlled by coating the film with a thin polymeric layer. These ecofriendly nanocomposite films could be employed as encapsulation coatings to protect relevant surfaces of medical devices from microbial adhesion and colonization

Decontamination-induced modification of bioactivity in essential oil-based plasma polymer coatings

Plasma polymer coatings fabricated from Melaleuca alternifolia essential oil and its derivatives have been previously shown to reduce the extent of microbial adhesion on titanium, polymers, and other implantable materials used in dentistry. Previous studies have shown these coatings to maintain their performance under standard operating conditions; however, when used in e.g., a dental implant, these coatings may inadvertently become subject to in situ cleaning treatments, such as those using an atmospheric pressure plasma jet, a promising tool for the effective in situ removal of biofilms from tissues and implant surfaces. Here, we investigated the effect of such an exposure on the antimicrobial performance of the Melaleuca alternifolia polymer coating. It was found that direct exposure of the polymer coating surface to the jet for periods less than 60 s was sufficient to induce changes in its surface chemistry and topography, affecting its ability to retard subsequent microbial attachment. The exact effect of the jet exposure depended on the chemistry of the polymer coating, the length of plasma treatment, cell type, and incubation conditions. The change in the antimicrobial activity for polymer coatings fabricated at powers of 20–30 W was not statistically significant due to their limited baseline bioactivity. Interestingly, the bioactivity of polymer coatings fabricated at 10 and 15 W against Staphylococcus aureus cells was temporarily improved after the treatment, which could be attributed to the generation of loosely attached bioactive fragments on the treated surface, resulting in an increase in the dose of the bioactive agents being eluted by the surface. Attachment and proliferation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells and mixed cultures were less affected by changes in the bioactivity profile of the surface. The sensitivity of the cells to the change imparted by the jet treatment was also found to be dependent on their origin culture, with mature biofilm-derived P. aeruginosa bacterial cells showing a greater ability to colonize the surface when compared to its planktonic broth-grown counterpart. The presence of plasma-generated reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in the culture media was also found to enhance the bioactivity of polymer coatings fabricated at power levels of 10 and 15 W, due to a synergistic effect arising from simultaneous exposure of cells to reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) and eluted bioactive fragments. These results suggest that it is important to consider the possible implications of inadvertent changes in the properties and performance of plasma polymer coatings as a result of exposure to in situ decontamination, to both prevent suboptimal performance and to exploit possible synergies that may arise for some polymer coating-surface treatment combinations

A comparative analysis of transpiration response to atmospheric increasing vapor pressure deficit conditions in cereal crops

Plant adaptation to drought depends on both inherited and adaptive characteristic of water conservative traits. Expression of limited transpiration rate (TR) under high vapor pressure deficit (VPD) conditions could be one of the potential sources of soil water conservation for drought tolerance. Large genetic variation for limited TR has been identified in the comparison of three major C4cereals viz.,maize, pearl millet and sorghum under elevating VPD. The total amount of water transpired under elevating VPD by these three cereals not found dependent on leaf area, in fact, it was reflected more by the variation in transpiration rate. Pearl millet showed better adaptation of limitation of TR than maize and sorghum under high VPD regimes

ENHANCEMENT OF SOLUBILITY AND DISSOLUTION RATE OF ACETYLSALICYLIC ACID VIA CO-CRYSTALLIZATION TECHNIQUE: A NOVEL ASA-VALINE COCRYSTAL

Objective: This study aims to synthesize acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) cocrystals using valine as a coformer via a co-crystallization technique to increase the solubility and dissolution rate of ASA. Methods: The ASA-valine cocrystal (1:1 molar ratio) was prepared using the solvent evaporation technique with ethanol: water (50:50). The cocrystal was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), melting point to confirm the formation of cocrystal. The evaluation of cocrystal was done by drug content determination, solubility and dissolution studies. Results: The prepared cocrystal was successfully confirmed for the formation of a hydrogen bond. The melting point of prepared cocrystal was decreased compared to pure ASA and valine, which indicated the formation of a new crystalline form. The FT-IR studies showed the formation of a new hydrogen bond by shifting the-O-H,-C=O and-N-H functional groups. SEM studies ensured that the prepared cocrystals were in needle-like appearance. Finally, DSC and PXRD studies were also indicated the successful formation of ASA-valine cocrystal. The drug release of cocrystal was found to be 100% at 60th min. Where in the case of pure ASA and marketed product of ASA exhibited the dissolution rate of 59% and 69% at 60th min respectively. Conclusion: The co-crystallization technique can be adopted as the best strategy to increase the solubility and dissolution rate of BCS class 2 drugs. Therefore the prepared ASA-valine cocrystal can be a greater alternative to increase the solubility and dissolution rate compared with pure and marketed ASA

Deep Learning Techniques for Image Recognition and Object Detection

Particularly in the fields of object identification and picture recognition, deep learning approaches have transformed the science of computer vision. This abstract provides a summary of recent developments and cutting-edge methods in deep learning for applications like object identification and picture recognition. The automated identification and classification of objects or patterns inside digital photographs is known as image recognition. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs), for example, have displayed outstanding performance in image identification tests. By directly learning hierarchical representations of visual characteristics from raw pixel data, these algorithms are able to recognize complex patterns and provide precise predictions. The ability for models to learn sophisticated visual representations straight from raw pixel data has transformed applications like object identification and picture recognition. The development of extremely accurate and effective systems has been accelerated by advances in deep learning architectures and large-scale annotated datasets. Further advances in object identification and picture recognition are anticipated as deep learning develops, with applications in a variety of fields including autonomous driving, surveillance, and medical imaging