Production, deceleration and trapping of SrF molecules

Permanent electric dipole moments (EDMs) are signatures of time-reversal and parity violation and act as sensitive probes for physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). The work in this thesis has been done as part of the NL-eEDM collaboration, which plans to measure the electron EDM using a beam of BaF molecules. The sensitivity of such a table-top precision experiment benefits from utilizing an intense, slow beam of molecules. We plan to achieve that through a combination of Stark deceleration and transverse laser cooling of a cryogenic beam of BaF. The work presented in this thesis has primarily been done to produce intense, slow molecular beams for an electron EDM measurement. We constructed a supersonic beam source of SrF and BaF molecules. The source produces high intensity beams with low translational and rotational temperatures. Time-resolved detection of laser-induced fluorescence from pulsed excitation of electronic states in BaF molecules was performed to determine the lifetimes of the A^{2}Pi_{1/2} and A^{2}Pi_{3/2} states. The lifetimes of these states were determined to be 57.1(3) ns and 47.9(7) ns, respectively. The transition between the A^{2}Pi_{1/2} and X^{2}Sigma^{+} states is the main laser cooling transition in BaF.We decelerated a beam of SrF molecules from a cryogenic source to a standstill inside a traveling-wave Stark decelerator, with the number of decelerated molecules on the order of 1000. BaF molecules will be decelerated with the same technique to perform an electron EDM measurement

NF-kB transcription factor: a key player in the generation of immune response

Activation of the immune system is a multistep process. The transcription factor nuclear factor-kappa B (NFkB), has been one of the most widely studied molecules in the immune system, as it is activated by a variety of stimuli and it in turn controls diverse genes and biological responses. It is an evolutionarily conserved molecule that coordinates the organism’s response to infection, stress and injury. It plays a major role in the induction of pro-inflammatory genes and affects the various cells involved in immune response as well as affects the generation of innate and adaptive immune response. It is also a target for drugs used in treatment of various inflammatory diseases

Phrenic Nerve Impingement and Effect of Superficial Neck Flexors Stretching in Improving Diaphragmatic Function among Patient with Chronic Neck Pain

Background: The phrenic nerve is formed on the lateral border of scalenus anterior. It runs vertically downward on the anterior surface of the scalenus anterior. The muscle is oblique and nerve cross it obliquely from its lateral to medial border. In this part the nerve is related anteriorly sternocleidomastoid. The decline in the diaphragm function can occur due to phrenic nerve block but to the best of our search, there is dearth of literature pertaining to involvement of phrenic nerve in patient with chronic neck pain secondary to superficial neck flexors tightness. So, evaluation of these muscle for tightness may be considered which may affect the maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP). Objective: To find the change in diaphragmatic function secondary to phrenic nerve impingement measured through maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP) following stretching of superficial neck flexors in patient with chronic neck pain Methods: An experimental (pre-post design) study involving 40 subjects with mean (±SD) age 22.4 ± 2.8 years was performed. Using purposive sampling 40 subjects (77.5% female and 22.5% male) were used to check phrenic nerve impingement by looking at the effect of superficial neck flexors stretching (sternocleidomastoid and anterior scalene) in improving diaphragmatic function in patient with chronic neck pain. The included subject’s diaphragmatic function was measured through maximum inspiratory pressure using a device capsule sensing pressure gauge followed by stretching of superficial neck flexors on both sides. After two minutes of stretching diaphragmatic function was again measured. Results: There was increase in diaphragmatic function following stretching of superficial neck flexors by 13.2cm H2O which was found to be highly significant statistically with p value < 0.01 Conclusion: The result of present study concluded that superficial neck flexors stretching was effective in treating the impingement of phrenic nerve as measured through maximum inspiratory pressure in patients with chronic neck pain

BIOAVAILABILITY ENHANCDEMENT OF POORLY SOLUBLE DRUGS BY SMEDDS: A REVIEW

Oral route has always been the favorite route of drug administration in many diseases and till today it is the first way investigated in the development of new dosage forms. The major problem in oral drug formulations is low and erratic bioavailability, which mainly results from poor aqueous solubility, thereby pretense problems in their formulation. More than 40% of potential drug products suffer from poor water solubility. For the therapeutic delivery of lipophilic active moieties (BCS class II drugs), lipid based formulations are inviting increasing attention. Currently a number of technologies are available to deal with the poor solubility, dissolution rate and bioavailability of insoluble drugs such as micronization, solid dispersions or cyclodextrin complex formation and different technologies of drug delivery systems. One of the promising techniques is Selfâ€Micro Emulsifying Drug Delivery Systems (SMEDDS). Self emulsifying drug delivery system has gained more attention due to enhanced oral bio-availability enabling reduction in dose, more consistent temporal profiles of drug absorption, selective targeting of drug(s) toward specific absorption window in GIT, and protection of drug(s) from the unreceptive environment in gut. This article gives a complete overview of SMEDDS as a promising approach to effectively deal with the problem of poorly soluble molecules. Keywords: SMEDDS, surfactant, oil, co-surfactant, bioavailabilit

Blue-Detuned Magneto-Optical Trap of Molecules

Direct laser cooling of molecules has reached a phase space density exceeding 10$^{-6}$ in optical traps, but with rather small molecular numbers. To progress towards quantum degeneracy, a mechanism is needed that combines sub-Doppler cooling and magneto-optical trapping (MOT) to facilitate near unity transfer of ultracold molecules from the MOT to a conservative optical trap. Using the unique energy level structure of YO molecules, we demonstrate the first blue-detuned MOT for molecules that is optimized for both gray-molasses sub-Doppler cooling and relatively strong trapping forces. This first sub-Doppler molecular MOT provides an increase of phase-space density by two orders of magnitude over any previously reported molecular MOT.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

A study to evaluate and compare the expulsion and continuation rates of post placental insertion of Cu 375 and CuT 380A in Indian women at a premier hospital in New Delhi, India

Background: The Study was planned to evaluate and compare the expulsion and continuation rates of post placental insertion of Cu 375 and CuT380A in Indian women at Safdarjung Hospital New Delhi, after approval was obtained from Institutional Ethical committee.Methods: Study group consisted of 300 women, divided into two groups: Group A and Group B. The data was analysed by using ‘student “t” test/ non-parametric ‘Wilcoxon Mann Whitney’ for quantitative variables to evaluate the safety, efficacy and acceptability.Results: Mean age was 24.99 years (range: 19-35years), All women were married (off which 64% literate) and Mean parity in group A was 1.97 and 2.06 in group B. Mean pain score during intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD) insertion on visual analogue scale was 2.93 in group A and 3 in group B and was not statistically different. 84% women completed 12 months follow up in group A and 83.33% women in group B. Strings were visible in 74% women in group A and in 34% women in group B at 1 month of IUCD insertion. Visibility of strings increased in successive follow up visits and was visible in >80% of women at the end of one year in the both groups. String visibility after intra-Caesarean insertion was delayed. Fifty one percent (n=77) subjects in group A and 54% (n=81) in group B experienced amenorrhea up to six months. Menorrhagia was reported in 7.33% in group A and women 8.66% in group B at the end of 1 year of follow up. Pain was complained by 26 out of 150 (17.3%) women in group A as compared to 36 out of 150 (24%) women in group B after 1 month of insertion. There was no case of PID in group A whereas there were 3 cases of PID in group B. There was no perforation/trauma and pregnancy in either group.Conclusions: Overall expulsion rate was 13% and removal rate was 5% in our study. Continuation rate was 83.3% in Cu 375 and 80.6% in CuT380A at 12 months. There was no significant difference between the IUCDs regarding the safety, efficacy and complications such as expulsion, bleeding etc

Sex-specific role of myostatin signaling in neonatal muscle growth, denervation atrophy, and neuromuscular contractures.

Neonatal brachial plexus injury (NBPI) causes disabling and incurable muscle contractures that result from impaired longitudinal growth of denervated muscles. This deficit in muscle growth is driven by increased proteasome-mediated protein degradation, suggesting a dysregulation of muscle proteostasis. The myostatin (MSTN) pathway, a prominent muscle-specific regulator of proteostasis, is a putative signaling mechanism by which neonatal denervation could impair longitudinal muscle growth, and thus a potential target to prevent NBPI-induced contractures. Through a mouse model of NBPI, our present study revealed that pharmacologic inhibition of MSTN signaling induces hypertrophy, restores longitudinal growth, and prevents contractures in denervated muscles of female but not male mice, despite inducing hypertrophy of normally innervated muscles in both sexes. Additionally, the MSTN-dependent impairment of longitudinal muscle growth after NBPI in female mice is associated with perturbation of 20S proteasome activity, but not through alterations in canonical MSTN signaling pathways. These findings reveal a sex dimorphism in the regulation of neonatal longitudinal muscle growth and contractures, thereby providing insights into contracture pathophysiology, identifying a potential muscle-specific therapeutic target for contracture prevention, and underscoring the importance of sex as a biological variable in the pathophysiology of neuromuscular disorders

High accuracy theoretical investigations of CaF, SrF, and BaF and implications for laser-cooling

The NL-eEDM collaboration is building an experimental setup to search for the permanent electric dipole moment of the electron in a slow beam of cold barium fluoride molecules [Eur. Phys. J. D, 72, 197 (2018)]. Knowledge of molecular properties of BaF is thus needed to plan the measurements and in particular to determine an optimal laser-cooling scheme. Accurate and reliable theoretical predictions of these properties require incorporation of both high-order correlation and relativistic effects in the calculations. In this work theoretical investigations of the ground and the lowest excited states of BaF and its lighter homologues, CaF and SrF, are carried out in the framework of the relativistic Fock-space coupled cluster (FSCC) and multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) methods. Using the calculated molecular properties, we determine the Franck-Condon factors (FCFs) for the $A^2\Pi_{1/2} \rightarrow X^2\Sigma^{+}_{1/2}$ transition, which was successfully used for cooling CaF and SrF and is now considered for BaF. For all three species, the FCFs are found to be highly diagonal. Calculations are also performed for the $B^2\Sigma^{+}_{1/2} \rightarrow X^2\Sigma^{+}_{1/2}$ transition recently exploited for laser-cooling of CaF; it is shown that this transition is not suitable for laser-cooling of BaF, due to the non-diagonal nature of the FCFs in this system. Special attention is given to the properties of the $A'^2\Delta$ state, which in the case of BaF causes a leak channel, in contrast to CaF and SrF species where this state is energetically above the excited states used in laser-cooling. We also present the dipole moments of the ground and the excited states of the three molecules and the transition dipole moments (TDMs) between the different states.Comment: Minor changes; The following article has been submitted to the Journal of Chemical Physics. After it is published, it will be found at https://publishing.aip.org/resources/librarians/products/journals

Systematic study and uncertainty evaluation of P, T-odd molecular enhancement factors in BaF

A measurement of the magnitude of the electric dipole moment of the electron (eEDM) larger than that predicted by the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics is expected to have a huge impact on the search for physics beyond the SM. Polar diatomic molecules containing heavy elements experience enhanced sensitivity to parity (P) and time-reversal (T)-violating phenomena, such as the eEDM and the scalar-pseudoscalar (S-PS) interaction between the nucleons and the electrons, and are thus promising candidates for measurements. The NL-eEDM collaboration is preparing an experiment to measure the eEDM and S-PS interaction in a slow beam of cold BaF molecules [P. Aggarwal et al., Eur. Phys. J. D 72, 197 (2018)]. Accurate knowledge of the electronic structure parameters, Wd and Ws, connecting the eEDM and the S-PS interaction to the measurable energy shifts is crucial for the interpretation of these measurements. In this work, we use the finite field relativistic coupled cluster approach to calculate the Wd and Ws parameters in the ground state of the BaF molecule. Special attention was paid to providing a reliable theoretical uncertainty estimate based on investigations of the basis set, electron correlation, relativistic effects, and geometry. Our recommended values of the two parameters, including conservative uncertainty estimates, are 3.13 ±0.12×1024Hzecm for Wd and 8.29 ± 0.12 kHz for W

Nations within a nation: variations in epidemiological transition across the states of India, 1990–2016 in the Global Burden of Disease Study

18% of the world's population lives in India, and many states of India have populations similar to those of large countries. Action to effectively improve population health in India requires availability of reliable and comprehensive state-level estimates of disease burden and risk factors over time. Such comprehensive estimates have not been available so far for all major diseases and risk factors. Thus, we aimed to estimate the disease burden and risk factors in every state of India as part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2016