Protective role of vitamin C against lindane toxicity on the histo-architecture of the epididymis and vas deferens of male mice (Mus musculus)

We studied the protective effects of vitamin C against the toxic effects of lindane on the epididymis and vas deferens of male mice. There were four treatments: controls (untreated), lindane (20 mg/kg), lindane plus vitamin C (10 mg/kg) and vitamin C only. Lindane induced histopathological alterations in the epididymis and vas deferens characterized by a reduced epithelium with degenerative changes in the muscular layers and connective tissues, and a lack of spermatozoa in the lumen of both epididymis and vas deferens. These changes were restored towards normalcy by vitamin C. These results suggest that vitamin C has some protective role against lindane toxicity in epididymis and vas deferens of male mice

Multi-GPU Acceleration of the iPIC3D Implicit Particle-in-Cell Code

iPIC3D is a widely used massively parallel Particle-in-Cell code for the simulation of space plasmas. However, its current implementation does not support execution on multiple GPUs. In this paper, we describe the porting of iPIC3D particle mover to GPUs and the optimization steps to increase the performance and parallel scaling on multiple GPUs. We analyze the strong scaling of the mover on two GPU clusters and evaluate its performance and acceleration. The optimized GPU version which uses pinned memory and asynchronous data prefetching outperform their corresponding CPU versions by 5-10x on two different systems equipped with NVIDIA K80 and V100 GPUs.Comment: Accepted for publication in ICCS 201

Is fundamental frequency a cue to aspiration in initial stops?

One production and one perception experiment were conducted to investigate the interaction of consonant voicing and fundamental frequency at the onset of voicing (onset f0) in Cantonese, a tonal language. Consonantal voicing in English can affect onset f0 up to 100 ms after voicing onset, but existing research provides inconclusive information regarding the effects of voicing on f0 in tonal languages where f0 variability is constrained by the demands of the lexical tone system. Previous research on consonantal effects on onset f0 provides two contrasting theories: These effects may be automatic, resulting from physiological constraints inherent to the speech production mechanism or they may be controlled, produced as part of a process of cue enhancement for the perception of laryngeal contrasts. Results of experiment 1 showed that consonant aspiration affects onset f0 in Cantonese only within the first 10 ms following voicing onset, comparable to results for other tonal languages. Experiment 2 showed that Cantonese listeners can use differences in onset f0 to cue perception of the voicing contrast, but the minimum extent of f0 perturbation necessary for this is greater than is found in Cantonese production, and comparable to that observed in acoustic studies of nontonal languages. These results suggest that consonantal effects on onset f0 are at least partially controlled by talkers, but that their role in the perception of voicing/aspiration may be a consequence of language independent properties of audition rather than listeners' experience with the phonological contrasts of a specific language.published_or_final_versio

K- absorption in nuclei by two and three nucleons

It will be shown that the peaks in the (Lambda p) and (Lambda d) invariant mass distributions, observed in recent FINUDA experiments and claimed to be signals of deeply bound kaonic states, are naturally explained in terms of K- absorption by two or three nucleons leaving the rest of the original nuclei as spectator. For reactions on heavy nuclei, the subsequent interactions of the particles produced in the primary absorption process with the residual nucleus play an important role. Our analyses leads to the conclusion that at present there is no experimental evidence of deeply bound K- state in nuclei. Although the FINUDA experiments have been done for reasons which are not supported a posteriori, some new physics can be extracted from the data.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Talk presented at the International Conference on Exotic Atoms "EXA 2008", Vienna, Austria, September 15-18, 200

Dynamic changes in biochemical markers of renal function with thyroid status- A study in Indian population

Thyroid dysfunction is known to cause significant changes in glomerular filtration rate. The present cross-sectional study was performed to evaluate the changes in biochemical markers of renal function in hypothyroid subjects before and after treatment. Thyroid function tests (T3, T4 and TSH levels) were assayed in 385 subjects. Based on TSH levels, subjects were classified as euthyroid (n=198), sub-clinical hypothyroid (n=98; TSH 6.1 to 19.9 μIU/ml) and overt hypothyroid (n=89; TSH ≥ 20 μIU/ml, abnormally low T4 levels). Forty-eight hypothyroid patients were re-evaluated after 3 months of thyroxine replacement therapy. Renal function tests were carried out in all subjects and statistically analyzed. Serum creatinine was significantly increased in subclinical and overt hypothyroid groups as compared to euthyroid subjects. Serum creatinine showed a significant negative correlation with T3 &T4 levels in overt group(r = -0.372 and r = - 0.371), whereas a positive correlation was observed with TSH (r=0.283). Uric acid levels were significantly increased in the overt group as compared to euthyroid subjects. Uric acid levels showed a significant negative correlation with T3 levels in the overt group (r= -0.298). After 3 months of thyroxine replacement therapy, creatinine and uric acids levels decreased significantly and were comparable to euthyroid levels. Hypothyroidism leads to reversible changes in renal function

Contributory factors in Juvenile Diabetes manifestation from Ayurvedic View - A Cohort Survey

Over the period of time, human race has evolved and till date the development is going on. There is continuous civilization and change in life style of human being. Due to these changes in life style, human being is constantly struggling against the changing environmental conditions to maintain optimum health and vigor throughout the life. These changes have lead to increase in the disease burden in the society. Juvenile Diabetes is also such condition which is going to increase day by day in children. Children are the most vulnerable community in society. Juvenile diabetes (Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus – IDDM/ Type 1 DM / T1DM) is the most common endocrine/metabolic disorder of childhood and adolescence. The high prevalence data of Juvenile Diabetes is also alarming. Globally, the incidence of Type 1 DM is increasing in children and youth by about 3% per annum. It is characterized by deficient insulin production and requires daily parenteral administration of insulin, otherwise may prove fatal. The cause of type 1 diabetes is not known and it is not preventable with current knowledge. So a survey of 50 diagnosed juvenile diabetes patients in Jamnagar city of Gujarat state was conducted. With this survey study an effort has been done t

Caractérisation physico-chimique et bactériologique des eaux usées brutes du réseau d’égout de la ville d’Abidjan

La gestion des eaux résiduaires urbaines pose de nombreux problèmes environnementaux qui deviennent préoccupants pour la santé des populations d’Abidjan. Pour remédier à cela, il est souhaitable de mettre en place des stations d’épurations. Ainsi, notre étude se présente comme une étude préliminaire visant à caractériser sur le plan physico-chimique et bactériologique les effluents du réseau d’égout de la ville d’Abidjan. Pour ce faire, nous avons effectué six campagnes de  prélèvement d’eaux usées durant une  année (Décembre 2013-Novembre 2014) sur huit (8) sites spécifiques du réseau d’égout. Ces échantillons ont fait l’objet  d’analyses physico-chimiques et bactériologiques sur la base des normes Françaises, Canadiennes et celles décrites par Rodier. Les résultats obtenus indiquent qu’à l’exception du phosphore total (PT) dont les concentrations sont comprises entre 4,3±4 et 10,9±6,7mg/l, les autres principaux indicateurs de pollution que sont l’azote total (NTK, 73,3±32 à 118,2±37,6 mg/l), les matières en suspension (MES, 79±23,3 à325,2±270,3 mg/l), la demande biochimique en oxygène en 5 jours (DBO5, 127,3±87,7 à 863,7±262,2 mgO2/l) et la demande chimique en oxygène (DCO, 276,2±195,6 à 975,3±249,4 mgO2/l) sont au-delà des valeurs guidesrecommandées par l’Etat de Côte d’Ivoire à travers le service d’inspection des installations classées (SIIC) en matière de rejet des effluents en milieu récepteur. L’analyse de la flore bactérienne des effluents révèle que les concentrations de coliformes fécaux et les streptocoques fécaux excèdent les valeurs indicatives préconisées par l’OMS.Mots clés : Caractérisation, eaux usées, réseau d’égout, bactériologie, physico-chimie

A Web-Based GIS Tool for Progress Monitoring of Linear Construction Projects

Efficient project monitoring is a key to a project’s success. Linear construction projects span across large distances and require similar activities to be carried out repeatedly over multiple small segments for project completion. Thus, monitoring their progress becomes challenging. This is a matter of concern since proper progress monitoring can aid in efficient utilization and distribution of project resources. Existing methods of monitoring are either time-consuming, expensive, or require significant human efforts. GIS has been used for monitoring linear projects, but the use has been limited. Therefore, this study aims to explore the potential of using GIS for collecting and visualizing data for enhanced progress monitoring of linear projects. For this purpose, this study proposes a process incorporating GIS and various open-source platforms in the form of a figure. The open-source platforms used are Open Data Kit (ODK) tools, PostgreSQL (and its PostGIS extension), and different JavaScript libraries. The development and illustration of a Web-based GIS tool for progress monitoring of linear projects are the main objectives of the study. Visualization and quantification of project progress using this tool would result in time and cost savings due to reduction in manual efforts expended, manual errors in processing data, and time taken for the process. The developed tool would make progress monitoring easier, faster, and more efficient since site data can be recorded even in the absence of the internet and processed later