Iodine status during pregnancy in India and related neonatal and infant outcomes

Objective: To document iodine status in Indian pregnancies, associations with maternal diet and demographics, and offspring developmental measures. Design: Longitudinal study following mothers through pregnancy and offspring up to 24 months. Setting: Rural health-care centre (Vadu) and urban antenatal clinic (Pune) in the Maharashtra region of India. Subjects: Pregnant mothers at 17 (n 132) and 34 weeks’ (n 151) gestation and their infants from birth to the age of 24 months. Results: Median urinary iodine concentration (UIC) was 203 and 211 μg/l at 17 and 34 weeks of pregnancy, respectively (range 26–800 μg/l). Using the UIC distribution adjusted for within-person variation, extreme UIC quartiles were compared for predictors and outcomes. There was no correlation between UIC at 17 and 34 weeks, but 24 % of those with UIC in the lowest quartile at 17 weeks had UIC in the same lowest quartile at 34 weeks. Maternal educational, socio-economic status and milk products consumption (frequency) were different between the lowest and highest quartile of UIC at 34 weeks. Selected offspring developmental outcomes differed between the lowest and highest UIC quartiles (abdominal circumference at 24 months, subscapular and triceps skinfolds at 12 and 24 months). However, UIC was only a weak predictor of subscapular skinfold at 12 months and of triceps skinfold at 24 months. Conclusions: Median UIC in this pregnant population suggested adequate dietary provision at both gestational stages studied. Occasional high results found in spot samples may indicate intermittent consumption of iodine-rich foods. Maternal UIC had limited influence on offspring developmental outcomes

Iridium complexes bearing a PNP ligand, favoring facile C(sp^3)–H bond cleavage

Hydrogen iodide is lost upon reaction of PNP with IrI_3, where PNP = 2,6-bis-(di-t-butylphosphinomethyl)pyridine to give crystallographically characterized Ir(PNP)*(I)_2, which reacts with H_2 to give Ir(PNP)(H)(I)_2. Ir(PNP)(Cl)_3 is relatively inert towards the intramolecular C–H activation of the tert-butyl's of the PNP ligand

Process Parameter Sensitivity in Magnetic Pulse Welding: An Artificial Neural Network approach

Magnetic pulse welding (MPW), a solid-state impact welding technique provides the ability to join a wide array of material combinations, whilst introducing little to no heat to the system and preserving the base metal microstructure. Impact velocity is one of the key criteria which determines the weldability of the joint during MPW. Experimental measurement of impact velocity in MPW across wide-ranging parameters is expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, guidelines for process selection and knowledge of relative influence of parameters on impact velocity is limited. This study presents the applicability of coupling finite element method (FEM) and artificial neural network (ANN) modelling to perform sensitivity analysis of MPW. The welding process was simulated using FEM, and multilayer modular feedforward networks based on the results from finite element simulations were developed. The results of the present study revealed that the coil cross sectional area and turns primarily governed the process, followed by the voltage. The relative sensitivity of the parameters remained independent of the material combination. Inclusion of shop floor applicable process parameters suggests that the developed ANN models can substantially narrow down experimental runs and simultaneously act as a decision support tool for end users

Achievements through Panchakarma in clinical management and future prospects

Panchkarma is globally accepted and famous branch of Indian system of medicines i.e. Ayurveda. In present article an attempt has been made to enlighten the applied aspect for Panchkarma in our daily practice. Panchkarma can be performed not only in diseased condition, but also in healthy person for betterment of life. Diseased treated by medicines can reoccur easily and shortly, but on the other hand diseased treated by Panchkarma cannot reoccur early. In present article various methods of Panchkarma like Vamana, Virechana, Basti, Nasya etc. are described

The importance of nuclear quantum effects for NMR crystallography

The resolving power of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) crystallography depends heavily on the accuracy of the computational prediction of NMR chemical shieldings of candidate structures, which are usually taken to be local minima in the potential energy surface. To test the limits of this approximation, we perform a systematic study of the role of finite-temperature and quantum nuclear fluctuations on $^1$H, $^{13}$C, and $^{15}$N chemical shieldings in molecular crystals -- considering the paradigmatic examples of the different polymorphs of benzene, glycine, and succinic acid. We find the effect of quantum fluctuations to be comparable in size to the typical errors of predictions of chemical shieldings for static nuclei with respect to experimental measurements, and to improve the match between experiments and theoretical predictions, translating to more reliable assignment of the NMR spectra to the correct candidate structure. Thanks to the use of integrated machine-learning models trained on both first-principles configurational energies and chemical shieldings, the accurate sampling of thermal and quantum fluctuations of the structures can be achieved at an affordable cost, setting a new standard for the calculations that underlie solid-state structural determination by NMR

Rhodium complexes bearing tetradentate diamine-bis(phenolate) ligands

Using tetradentate, dianionic ligands, several new rhodium complexes have been prepared. Some of these diamine-bis(phenolate) compounds, are active for C–H activation of benzene. These complexes are air and thermally stable. All four complexes were characterized by X-ray diffraction