Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope observations of an M2.8 flare: insights into the initiation of a flare-coronal mass ejection event

We present the first observations of a solar flare with the GMRT. An M2.8 flare observed at 1060 MHz with the GMRT on Nov 17 2001 was associated with a prominence eruption observed at 17 GHz by the Nobeyama radioheliograph and the initiation of a fast partial halo CME observed with the LASCO C2 coronograph. Towards the start of the eruption, we find evidence for reconnection above the prominence. Subsequently, we find evidence for rapid growth of a vertical current sheet below the erupting arcade, which is accompanied by the flare and prominence eruption.Comment: Accepted for publication in Solar Physic

Inorganic phosphorus fractions and phosphorus availability in long term fertilizer cum manurial trials under coconut cultivation

Phosphorus is one of the major nutrients required for coconut production. The information about the fate of native and applied phosphorus in soil is essential for better management of the nutrient. The changes on inorganic P fractions and P availability in soil after 43 years of coconut cultivation were studied from a long term fertilizer cum manurial experiment at CPCRI, Kasaragod. There were 6 treatments viz. tillage with organic and inorganic fertilizer, tillage with inorganic fertilizer, inorganic fertilizers with basin forking, tillage alone, herbicide application without tillage and fertilizer and the control. Soil samples were taken at two depths (0-30 and 30-60 cm) from coconut basin for analysis. Phosphorus was fractionated into Easily Soluble P (ES-P), Aluminium P (AI-P), Iron P (Fe-P), Calcium P (Ca-P) and Reductant Soluble P (RS-P) through sequential extraction. The dominant phosphorus fraction in the coconut basin at 0-30 cm depth was Ca-P and the trend is as follows: Ca-P> Fe-P> RS-P>Al-P>ES-P. However, at 30-60 cm depth, Fe-P became the dominant fraction and the trend is Fe-P>Ca-P>RS-P>Al-P>ES-P. Long-term phosphorus fertilization would facilitate the accumulation of soil Ca-P, and thus improve soil P availability. In the interspaces, Fe-P was the dominating fraction in both the depths followed by Ca-P and RS-P. The difference in P fractions in fertilized and non-fertilized plots clearly showed that the fertilized plots have high content of all the inorganic phosphorus fractions in both the depths. Application of mineral P along with forking in basin showed a high concentration of all the inorganic P fractions compared to other fertilizer applied treatments

Distribution of HLA (class I and class II) antigens in the native Dravidian Hindus of Tamil Nadu, South India

HLA - A, B, C, DR, DQ antigen profile of South Indian Tamil-speaking Hindus of Dravidian descent was studied. Phenotype. gene and haplotype frequencies were calculated and compared with the literature. There was a complete lack of A23, A25 and A32 antigens in the sample presently monitored. Except for minor differences (higher incidence of Cw6 and DR10 antigens), the Dravidian Hindus show similarity to North Indio-Aryan and other Hindu samples. The haplotypes A1, B17; A2, B5: A2, B51; A1, DR7; B12, DR7; B13, DR2; B17, DR7; DR2, DQ1; DR3, DQ2; DR4, DQ3; DR5, DQ3; DR7, DQ2; DR11, DQ3 show significant positive linkage disequilibrium whereas A1, DR2; DR2, DQ2; DR7, DQ1 were significant for negative linkage disequilibrium in the Dravidian Hindus

Orthopaedic surgeons: as strong as an ox and almost twice as clever? Multicentre prospective comparative study

Objective To compare the intelligence and grip strength of orthopaedic surgeons and anaesthetists

HLA-DR and -DQ antibodies in the sera of South India Parous women

HLA-A, -B positive sera of south Indian parous women were screened for the presence of HLA-DR and -DQ antibodies. The sera were absorbed with pooled platelets in a micro-method and screened against HLA-DR and -DQ typed B-lymphocytes panel. Out of fifty two sera, twenty were found to contain HLA-DR and -DQ antibodies. Seven sera were demonstrated to be specific for well defined DR and DQ antigen

Anti-filarial IgG antibodies in patients with Bancroftian filariasis and tropical pulmonary eosinophilia

Anti-filarial (anti- B. malayi adult as well as anti- B. malayi microfilarial) IgG antibody levels were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in asymptomatic microfilaria carriers, acute, chronic and tropical pulmonary eosinophilia (TPE) patients, endemic and non-endemic controls. Controls from endemic areas had higher antibody titres compared with controls from non-endemic areas. The antibody response in different groups of filariasis patients was not stage specific. There were no association between clinical disease and antibody levels except in TPE. Though TPE patients had very high antibody levels, a proportion of them had low levels suggesting heterogeneity in TPE population

Sintering characteristics of manganese ore fines from Balaghat and Ukwa mines of Manganese Ore (India) Limited

Indian manganese ore reserves are depleting very fast Manganese ore (India) Ltd. realised that utilisation of Manganese ore fines will pave the way for conservation of lumpy high grade manganese ore. Manganese ore fines generated at Balaghat and Ukwa mines of MOIL were subjected to sintering studies at the R&D Centre of Paramount Sinters Pvt. Ltd. The studies indicated that fluxed sinter with very good strength and porosity could be produced. The sinters showed a high degree of reduction and even metalization was noticed. The chemical and physical characteristics indicated that sinters can be used in ferro manganese furnaces. Advantages of using sinter in the ferro alloy manufacture has been highlighted in this report. The authors have conc-luded that from the point of view of conservation and reduction of manufacturing cost, sintering has a vital role to play in ferro alloy industries

SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY OF NOVEL PYRAZOLE DERIVATIVES

Objectives: To synthesize novel pyrazole derivatives and their evaluation for anti-inflammatory activity. Methods: The synthesis of chalcone (1) was carried out by using Claisen-Schmidt condensation. which on further cyclization with thiosemicarbazidegives the substituted 3, 5-diphenyl-4, 5-dihydro-pyrazole-1-carbothoic acid amide (2), further reaction with different aldehydes yield title compounds(3). Using this scheme 8 compounds were synthesized which further have been evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity by egg-albumin induced pawedema.Results: All the synthesized compounds have been supported by spectral analysis. The anti-inflammatory activity of synthesized compounds wascompared with standard anti-inflammatory agent Diclofenac sodium.Conclusion: Compound-8, compound-2 and compound-3 showed greater anti-inflammatory activity due to the presence of alkene and electronwithdrawing groups (Cl and NO2). Keywords: Chalcone, Thiosemicarbazide, Pyrazole derivatives, Anti-inflammatory activity

Weighing neutrinos using high redshift galaxy luminosity functions

Laboratory experiments measuring neutrino oscillations, indicate small mass differences between different mass eigenstates of neutrinos. The absolute mass scale is however not determined, with at present the strongest upper limits coming from astronomical observations rather than terrestrial experiments. The presence of massive neutrinos suppresses the growth of perturbations below a characteristic mass scale, thereby leading to a decreased abundance of collapsed dark matter halos. Here we show that this effect can significantly alter the predicted luminosity function (LF) of high redshift galaxies. In particular we demonstrate that a stringent constraint on the neutrino mass can be obtained using the well measured galaxy LF and our semi-analytic structure formation models. Combining the constraints from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7 year (WMAP7) data with the LF data at z = 4, we get a limit on the sum of the masses of 3 degenerate neutrinos \Sigma m_\nu < 0.52 eV at the 95 % CL. The additional constraints using the prior on Hubble constant strengthens this limit to \Sigma m_\nu < 0.29 eV at the 95 % CL. This neutrino mass limit is a factor of order 4 improvement compared to the constraint based on the WMAP7 data alone, and as stringent as known limits based on other astronomical observations. As different astronomical measurements may suffer from different set of biases, the method presented here provides a complementary probe of \Sigma m_\nu . We suggest that repeating this exercise on well measured luminosity functions over different redshift ranges can provide independent and tighter constraints on \Sigma m_\nu .Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, submitted to PR