Temperature Instability in High-Tc Superconducting Wire Exposed to Thermal Disturbance

AbstractHigh-Tc superconductor wires/ conductors of longer lengths have emerged as one of the most promising candidates for several useful applications such as in utilities and in current lead powering large magnet system. These conductors are liquid nitrogen cooled and are much cheaper to operate. In the event of intrinsic thermal instability or cooling failure, irreversible transition to normal state may occur. These normal zones may propagate rapidly enough to cause transient heating leading to local ‘hot spot’ and resulting in damage to the conductor/ magnet. In this paper, the mathematical formulation to determine the temperature distribution throughout the superconductor wire subjected to such transient disturbance is illustrated. The solution to the problem is achieved by using the method of separation of variables based on physically relevant initial conditions. The results are obtained in the series form in terms of Bessel's functions and are illustrated numerically for a technical yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) superconductor wire. Also it is found that even for a steady state heat transfer of 500W m–2 K–1, the conductor temperature rises above Tc in less than 10sec of the thermal disturbance

Attitudes of smokers towards tobacco control policies: Findings from the Studying Tobacco users Of Pakistan (STOP) survey

Background Public attitude is a political driver in successful implementation of tobacco control policies. We assessed support for a range of tobacco control policies among smokers in Pakistan. Methods We conducted a household survey among adult smokers in 10 cities of Pakistan, using a two-stage random sampling strategy to select households and Kish Grid method to select one smoker per household. Attitudes were measured using a five-point ordinal scale on four policy statements: a complete ban on tobacco sale within 10 years; raising the legal age to buy tobacco from 18 to 21; increasing tobacco taxes to fund healthcare; and a ban on smoking in cars with minors. Results 6,014 participants were interviewed between September 2019 and March 2020. Most participants demonstrated strong support for all policy statements: a ban on smoking in cars with minors (86.5%); a complete ban on tobacco sale within 10 years (82.1%); raising the legal age to buy tobacco (77.9%) and increasing tobacco taxes (68.1%). Smokers’ support for tobacco control policies increased with age but decreased with higher educational attainment and heaviness of smoking. Conclusions There is strong support among smokers in Pakistan to strengthen tobacco control. Given this, policy makers should strongly consider strengthening existing national policies on tobacco control

Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha SNP Variant in Promoter Region G308a, cause Preeclampsia during Pregnancy in Pakistani Women, A Case Control Study

Preeclampsia (PE) is a very common critical condition during pregnancy. As PE is a highrisk condition during pregnancy, occurring in 25% of all pregnancies, worldwide. In women with PE there is an increase in hypertension and albuminuria. Elevated blood pressure can be life-threatening after 20th week of pregnancy. Single nucleotide variation in gene sequence can be disease causing, among these pathogenic SNPs, a variant in TNF-α, G308A is analyzed in many studies as a causative variant to cause preeclampsia. In this case control study fifty patients and fifty healthy individuals were enrolled for analysis of TNF-α promoter region SNP G308A from Jinnah hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. The genotyping of TNF-α (G308A) rs1800629 polymorphisms was performed by PCR-RFLP method. Data analysis was performed by using SNPStats, statistical tool. The mean age of all patients and controls were calculated, 24.4 ± 6.6 and 25.1 ± 5.3 years, respectively. The frequency of G308A polymorphism was more prevalent in the case group, in association with control group (p<0.001). There was a significant correlation between inflammation promoting genotypes of TNF-α and PE. It can be warily concluded that: TNF- α (G-308A) polymorphism can be reflected as a marker of predisposition to preeclampsia in our population

Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) approach and sports texts of the postgraduate students at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the scripts entitled ‘‘Sports’’ in terms of processes used and text type based on (Halliday, 1994) Systemic Functional Linguistic approach. Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is looking into the syntactic structure of a clause based on six processes including material, mental and relational process (major category) and verbal, behavioral, and existential processes (minor category). Forty (40) students of the subject ‘Dynamics of Leadership’ at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia were assigned to write essays about ‘Sports’ in between 300—400 words within thirty (30) minutes and sixteen (16) essays were selected for the analysis. Researchers used mixed-method in order to analyze both quantitative (numerical) and qualitative (descriptive) data. All the collected essays were analyzed and then the percentage of all the six processes has been shown in descriptive statistics and interpreted in tabulations and bar graphs. The findings indicate that the dominant process used in all the scripts was material—doing and happening— and subsequently relational. Focusing more on nominalization, the analyzed manuscripts were found to be wordy

Status of ToRCH positivity among the children presented with congenital Hydrocephalus

Introduction: ToRCH is an acronym for four congenital infections that are sometimes difficult to distinguish: Toxoplasmosis, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus (CMV), and Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV). This group of organisms produces serious Central Nervous System (CNS) and other infections, which are potentially preventable and treatable.&#x0D; Methods: Neonates and infants with hydrocephalus (N = 65) identified via the outpatient department of the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital (NINS&amp;H), were prospectively screened for ToRCH antibodies. Hydrocephalus secondary to Tumor or Trauma was excluded from this study.&#x0D; Results: Evidence of 75.38 % (p = &lt;0.05) patient was positive for TORCH antibodies. Toxoplasma Gondi (T. Gondii) IgG 18.5 % ( p= &lt;0.05 ), CMV IgM 9.2 % (p = &lt;0.05), CMV Ig G47.7% ( p = &lt;0.5), Rubella, and HSV 1 &amp; 2 antibodies were also identified.&#x0D; Conclusion: The vast majority of cases of neonatal hydrocephalus at one institution was post-infectious in etiology and related to ToRCH infections. Many of these cases could be prevented with improved screening and treatment. While study of a single institution may not be the representative of the entire population, further study and implementation of a standardized screening protocol would likely benefit this population.&#x0D; Bang. J Neurosurgery 2020; 9(2): 121-125</jats:p

Candida dubliniensis: An Appraisal of Its Clinical Significance as a Bloodstream Pathogen

A nine-year prospective study (2002–2010) on the prevalence of Candida dubliniensis among Candida bloodstream isolates is presented. The germ tube positive isolates were provisionally identified as C. dubliniensis by presence of fringed and rough colonies on sunflower seed agar. Subsequently, their identity was confirmed by Vitek2 Yeast identification system and/or by amplification and sequencing of the ITS region of rDNA. In all, 368 isolates were identified as C. dubliniensis; 67.1% came from respiratory specimens, 11.7% from oral swabs, 9.2% from urine, 3.8% from blood, 2.7% from vaginal swabs and 5.4% from other sources. All C. dubliniensis isolates tested by Etest were susceptible to voriconazole and amphotericin B. Resistance to fluconazole (≥8 µg/ml) was observed in 2.5% of C. dubliniensis isolates, 7 of which occurred between 2008–2010. Of note was the diagnosis of C. dubliniensis candidemia in 14 patients, 11 of them occurring between 2008–2010. None of the bloodstream isolate was resistant to fluconazole, while a solitary isolate showed increased MIC to 5-flucytosine (>32 µg/ml) and belonged to genotype 4. A review of literature since 1999 revealed 28 additional cases of C. dubliniensis candidemia, and 167 isolates identified from blood cultures since 1982. In conclusion, this study highlights a greater role of C. dubliniensis in bloodstream infections than hitherto recognized

Functional analysis and identification of cis-regulatory elements of human chromosome 21 gene promoters

Given the inherent limitations of in silico studies relying solely on DNA sequence analysis, the functional characterization of mammalian promoters and associated cis-regulatory elements requires experimental support, which demands cloning and analysis of putative promoter regions. Focusing on human chromosome 21, we cloned 182 gene promoters of 2500 bp in length and conducted reporter gene assays on transfected-cell arrays. We found 56 promoters that were active in HEK293 cells, while another 49 promoters could be activated by treatment of cells with Trichostatin A or depletion of serum. We observed high correlations between promoter activities and endogenous transcript levels, RNA polymerase II occupancy, CpG islands and core promoter elements. Truncation of a subset of 62 promoters to ∼500 bp revealed that truncation rarely resulted in loss of activity, but rather in loss of responses to external stimuli, suggesting the presence of cis-regulatory response elements within distal promoter regions. In these regions, we found a strong enrichment of transcription factor binding sites that could potentially activate gene expression in the presence of stimuli. This study illustrates the modular functional architecture of chromosome 21 promoters and helps to reveal the complex mechanisms governing transcriptional regulation

Resistance of Asian Cryptococcus neoformans Serotype A Is Confined to Few Microsatellite Genotypes

Contains fulltext : 109375.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Cryptococcus neoformans is a pathogenic yeast that causes cryptococcosis, a life threatening disease. The prevalence of cryptococcosis in Asia has been rising after the onset of the AIDS epidemic and estimates indicate more than 120 cases per 1,000 HIV-infected individuals per year. Almost all cryptococcal disease cases in both immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients in Asia are caused by C. neoformans var. grubii. Epidemiological studies on C. neoformans in pan-Asia have not been reported. The present work studies the genetic diversity of the fungus by microsatellite typing and susceptibility analysis of approximately 500 isolates from seven Asian countries. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Genetic diversity of Asian isolates of C. neoformans was determined using microsatellite analysis with nine microsatellite markers. The analysis revealed eight microsatellite complexes (MCs) which showed different distributions among geographically defined populations. A correlation between MCs and HIV-status was observed. Microsatellite complex 2 was mainly associated with isolates from HIV-negative patients, whereas MC8 was associated with those from HIV-positive patients. Most isolates were susceptible to amphotericin B, itraconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, and isavuconazole, but 17 (3.4%) and 10 (2%) were found to be resistant to 5-flucytosine and fluconazole, respectively. Importantly, five Indonesian isolates (approximately 12.5% from all Indonesian isolates investigated and 1% from the total studied isolates) were resistant to both antifungals. The majority of 5-flucytosine resistant isolates belonged to MC17. CONCLUSIONS: The findings showed a different distribution of genotypes of C. neoformans var. grubii isolates from various countries in Asia, as well as a correlation of the microsatellite genotypes with the original source of the strains and resistance to 5-flucytosine