Impact of chemical stressors on hydrogen metabolism

The effects of chemical stressing agents on H 2 metabolism were evaluated using thermodynamic, biochemical, genomic and statistical methods. The objectives of this study were to examine the role of homoacetogens and hydrogenotrophic methanogens exposed to different stress treatments under various fermentation conditions. Negligible H 2 consumption was observed at mesophilic and thermophilic temperature (at pH 4.5) when combined with the addition of 2 g L -1 linoleic acid (LA). Genomic analysis revealed that LA-treated cultures were dominated by Clostridium sp. whereas control cultures were dominated by homoacetogens and methanogens. Lauric acid (LUA), LA, fish oil and furfural affected H 2 consumption similarly to BES. The H 2 consumption (%) of the control and chemically treated cultures revealed the following trend: Control \u3e Fish oil = LA = Furfural \u3e BES \u3e LUA. Treatment with different stressing agents also resulted in the formation of diverse fermentation metabolites. The long-term effects of different culture pretreatments under mesophilic condition resulted in higher mean H 2 yields compared to the yields from cultures incubated at thermophilic condition (after 5 glucose additions). Hydrogen consumption studies using long term stress treated cultures showed lower consumption at thermophilic temperature than at mesophilic temperature. Uptake hydrogenase activities correlated positively with the H 2 consumption data. Genomic analysis indicated that both methanogens and homoacetogens were present in control cultures, but they were absent from the pretreated cultures. Studies conducted in anaerobic sequencing batch reactors revealed that lowering the HRT from 37.5 h to 7.5 h reduced the methane yield and increased the H 2 yield. Higher H 2 yields were obtained in cultures operated at thermophilic temperature compared to mesophilic and psychrophilic temperature using corn stalk (CS) as substrate. Cultures fed CS liquor showed lower levels of specific methanogenic activities than cultures fed pure sugars. The results from these studies indicate that all the chemical stressing agents investigated were active against H 2 consumers (methanogens in particular). In addition to different stress treatments, proper control of operational parameters such as pH, HRT and temperature is required to minimize H 2 consumption and maximize H 2 production in dark fermentation process

Finite-time passivity for neutral-type neural networks with time-varying delays – via auxiliary function-based integral inequalities

In this paper, we investigated the problem of the finite-time boundedness and finitetime passivity for neural networks with time-varying delays. A triple, quadrable and five integral terms with the delay information are introduced in the new Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional (LKF). Based on the auxiliary integral inequality, Writinger integral inequality and Jensen’s inequality, several sufficient conditions are derived. Finally, numerical examples are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed criterion. There results are compared with the existing results.&nbsp

Functionalization of textile cotton fabric with reduced graphene oxide/MnO2/polyaniline based electrode for supercapacitor

In this work, a new cotton electrode has been synthesized by coating ternary materials of reduced graphene oxide (rGO), manganese dioxide (MnO2), and polyaniline (PANi) on textile cotton fabric. First, Graphene oxide was deposited on cotton fibers by a simple 'dip and dry' method and chemically reduced into rGO/cotton fabric. MnO2 nanoparticles were accumulated on rGO/cotton fabric by in situ chemical deposition method. PANi layer was coated on rGO/MnO2/cotton fabric by in situ oxidative polymerization technique. A thin PANi coating layer acts as a protective layer on rGO/MnO2/cotton fabric to restrain MnO2 nanoparticles and rGO from dissolution in H2SO4 acidic electrolyte. The specific surface area of cotton electrode was measured using the Brenauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) results show that the cotton electrode has good capacitive behavior. The ternary cotton electrode exhibits high specific capacitance values of 888 F g(-1) and 252 F g(-1) at a discharge current density of 1 A g(-1) and 25 A g(-1) in 1MH(2)SO(4) electrolyte solution. The high areal specific capacitance of 444 Fcm(-2) was achieved for as-fabricated electrode. Also, the cotton electrode retains around 70% of specific capacitance after 3000 cycles at charge-discharge current density of 15 A g(-1). The slow decrease in specific capacitance is observed with increased discharge current density which proves its excellent rate capability. These results of rGO/MnO2/PANi/cotton fabric electrode show that this can be an excellent electrode for supercapacitor in energy storage devices

MIGRAINE: A POSSIBLE CAUSE FOR COGNITIVE DECLINE

Objectives:Migraine is the second most common type of headache and seventh most disabling disease worldwide. In general, obesity is often related to headache disorders in several clinical and epidemiologic studies. Obese migraine patients may have an increased attack frequency due to increase in inflammatory response. Cognitive decline is the major pitfall of migraine disorder and there exists a conflicting result between cognition and migraine and the effect of Body Mass Index (BMI) on migraine. So this study is done to find out the relationship between cognition and migraine and its association with BMI.Methods:The study protocol was approved by the ethical committee of SRM Medical College Hospital & Research Centre. The study group consisted of 30 migraine patients and 30 healthy controls aged between 18-40 years of age. Informed consent was obtained from all the participants. Diagnosis of migraine was made using the criteria of 2nd edition of International Headache Classification (IHC). Patients affected by Diabetes mellitus, Hypertension, allergy, inflammation, infection or immune disorders were excluded. Height and weight of the subjects were taken to calculate the BMI. Cognitive tests such as stroop interference trial & trial making tests (A&B) were done to evaluate working memory, mental flexibility and attention.Results:Compared to controls, cases took more time for performing stroop colour card test (106.40 ± 15.87 seconds vs. 132.17±7.027seconds, p<0.001) and trial making pattern B (54.77± 8.169 seconds vs. 56.23 ± 23.457seconds, p=0.004). Among the migraine subjects, obese individuals had an increased frequency of migraine attack per month (Correlation coefficient r=0.797)Conclusion:Cognitive decline in migraine is one of the underestimated problems in migraine. Identifying such problems early can prevent major consequences in day to day activities of migraine patients. Since there is an increased frequency of migraine with increase in BMI, obese migraine subjects can be recommended to do regular exercises.Â

Improved results on an extended dissipative analysis of neural networks with additive time-varying delays using auxiliary function-based integral inequalities

The issue of extended dissipative analysis for neural networks (NNs) with additive time-varying delays (ATVDs) is examined in this research. Some less conservative sufficient conditions are obtained to ensure the NNs are asymptotically stable and extended dissipative by building the agumented Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, which is achieved by utilizing some mathematical techniques with improved integral inequalities like auxiliary function-based integral inequalities (gives a tighter upper bound). The present study aims to solve the $H_{\infty}, L_2-L_{\infty}$, passivity and $(Q, S, R)$-$\gamma$-dissipativity performance in a unified framework based on the extended dissipativity concept. Following this, the condition for the solvability of the designed NNs with ATVDs is presented in the form of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, the practicality and effectiveness of this approach were demonstrated through four numerical examples

Detection of pulmonary Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections in HIV-infected subjects using culture and serology

SummaryObjectiveThe true prevalence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections involving the respiratory tracts of HIV-infected individuals is still unclear. This study examined the prevalence of M. pneumoniae in 100 HIV-infected individuals at an AIDS care center in Chennai, India, using conventional laboratory techniques and interpretation criteria.MethodsDiagnosis was based on culture, cold agglutination test, and commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the qualitative determination of IgM antibodies against M. pneumoniae. The efficacies of the different diagnostic procedures used in the study were analyzed.ResultsThe prevalence of M. pneumoniae was 31% by culture and 21% by IgM ELISA. Cough (p=0.03, OR 3.8, 95% CI 1–17.8), myalgia (p=0.04, OR 2.5, 95% CI 1–6.6), rales (p=0.04, OR 2.4, 95% CI 1–6.6), and cervical adenopathy (p=0.03, OR 2.7, 95% CI 1–7.1) were the symptoms that significantly corroborated culture positivity. Patients positive for M. pneumoniae by culture or IgM antibody had significantly greater CD4+ T-cell depletion and anemia than those without any evidence of infection.ConclusionsThis study provides the means to diagnose M. pneumoniae infection and information on the prevalence of the pathogen in HIV-infected individuals in resource constrained settings. Although modern molecular techniques may provide more insight into the prevalence of M. pneumoniae in HIV-infected individuals, conventional methods can still be used in diagnosis

Effect of COD: SO42- Ratio, HRT and Linoleic Acid Concentration on Mesophilic Sulfate Reduction: Reactor Performance and Microbial Population Dynamics

Biological sulfate (SO42-) reduction was examined in anaerobic sequential batch reactors (ASBRs) operated under different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) ranging from 12 to 36 h and COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand)/SO42- ratios of 2.4, 1.6 and 0.8. Competition between SO42- reducing bacteria (SRBs), methane producing archaea (MPAs) and homoacetogens (HACs) was examined in controls and cultures treated with linoleic acid (LA). The ASBR performance was influenced by the COD/SO42- ratio in control cultures with a SO42- reduction of 87% at a COD/SO42- ratio of 0.8. At a 12 h HRT, in both control and LA treated cultures, greater than 75% SO42- removal was observed under all the conditions examined. In control reactors operating at a 36 h HRT, high levels of MPAs belonging to Methanobacteriales and Methanosarcinales were detected; however, in comparison, under low COD/SO42- ratio and with decreasing HRT conditions, a relative increase in SRBs belonging to Desulfovibrio and Desulfatibacillum was observed. Adding 0.5 gL(-1) LA suppressed Methanobacteriales, while increasing the LA concentration to 1 gL(-1) completely suppressed MPAs with a relative increase in SRBs. HACs belonging to Bacteroidetes were observed in the control and in cultures operated at 12 h HRT with a COD/SO42- ratio of 1.6 and fed 0.5 gL(-1) LA; however, with all other LA levels (0.5 and 1.0 gL(-1)) and HRTs (12, 24 and 36 h), HACs were not detected

Levan Production in Shake Flask and Fermenter Influence of Feeding Strategy on Levan Yield and Molecular Weight Distribution

Effect of feeding strategy on levan production was studied in a shake flask and a 5 L lab scale fermenter. In a shake flask, levan specific substrate yield (YP/S) increased from 0.35 g levan/g sucrose to 0.48 g levan/g sucrose with repeated batch feeding. In a 3 L reactor, levan productivity of 7.18 g/L h was obtained with the fed-batch mode of fermentation. The gel permeation chromatography results indicate that higher initial sucrose concentration under the fed-batch mode operation resulted in the formation of low molecular weight fractions (4 and 10 kDa). Thus, fed-batch fermentation favors levan production resulting in higher yield and productivity and also affects the molecular weight distribution of the biopolymer