Boltzmann's entropy during free expansion of an interacting ideal gas

In this work we study the evolution of Boltzmann's entropy in the context of free expansion of a one dimensional interacting gas inside a box. Boltzmann's entropy is defined for single microstates and is given by the phase-space volume occupied by microstates with the same value of macrovariables which are coarse-grained physical observables. We demonstrate the idea of typicality in the growth of the Boltzmann's entropy for two choices of macro-variables -- the single particle phase space distribution and the hydrodynamic fields. Due to the presence of interaction, the growth curves for both these entropies are observed to converge to a monotonically increasing limiting curve, on taking the appropriate order of limits, of large system size and small coarse graining scale. Moreover, we observe that the limiting growth curves for the two choices of entropies are identical as implied by local thermal equilibrium. We also discuss issues related to finite size and finite coarse gaining scale which lead interesting features such as oscillations in the entropy growth curve. We also discuss shocks observed in the hydrodynamic fields

DISSEMINATED TUBERCULOSIS PRESENTING AS HEMOPHAGOCYTIC LYMPHOHISTIOCYTOSIS

ABSTRACTHemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is an immune dysregulation syndrome which is characterized by widespread but ineffective activationof immune system of our body. This activation leads to release of a large pool of cytokines from the activated lymphocytes and macrophages. Thishypercytokinemia leads to the development of characteristic features of HLH such as fever, cytopenias, hepatosplenomegaly, raised serum ferritinlevel, hemophagocytosis in marrow/spleen/lymph nodes, low fibrinogen and or hypertriglyceridemia, low natural killer cell activity, and high-solubleCD25 [1]. Five out of the above eight features are required for the diagnosis. There are 2 variants of HLH, primary HLH; where the defect in theimmune system is hereditary and secondary HLH; where it is caused by other secondary diseases such as infections, hematological malignancies,autoimmune and auto-inflammatory diseases. In this article, we have reported a case of HLH, which was secondary to disseminated tuberculosis.There are only few case reports of HLH secondary to disseminated tuberculosis. Mortality may be as high as 50%. Although tuberculosis has variousmanifestations, our patient presented with fever, skin rash, cytopenias, splenomegaly, and very high ferritin. Marrow examination showed epithelioidgranuloma, hemophagocytosis, and positive Ziehl–Neelsen staining. At present, no definite treatment guidelines have been formulated becauseof multiple drug interactions and toxicities. We treated our patient with non-hepatotoxic anti-tubercular drugs and steroids, followed by additionof isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide on improvement of hepatic profile. Thus, high index of clinical suspicion, prompt diagnosis, and earlymanagement may reduce the mortality in this devastating disease. Moreover, this is more common in immunocompromised patients, but here, wehave diagnosed this case in an immunocompetent man.Keywords: Erythematous rash, Fever, Disseminated tuberculosis

Concordance between conventional cytology and cell block of suspected malignant pleural effusion: A record-based study in a tertiary care center of eastern India

Background: Cytological study of pleural fluid helps establishing the underlying cause of pleural effusion. It is considered the most important tool in diagnosing malignancy in effusions. However, accurate identification of cellular morphology can be a problem in conventional cytology. Cell block preparation from pleural effusion aids in this diagnosis due to the preservation of tissue architecture, and multiple sections can be obtained for further studies. Aims and Objectives: The objectives of this study were to compare the diagnostic results of conventional cytology and cell block studies of suspected malignant pleural effusions and find out the diagnostic agreement or concordance between the two methods. Materials and Methods: A record-based study was conducted at the Department of Pathology on conventional cytology and cell block study reports of 150 suspected malignant pleural effusion cases over 35 months. The diagnoses were expressed in five categories – non-diagnostic, negative for malignancy, atypia of undetermined significance, suspicious for malignancy, and malignant. χ2 test was used to identify the percentage of malignancy reported. Agreement of both methods was assessed through Kappa statistics. Results: About 4.67% of cases were reported as malignant by conventional cytology, whereas cell block study diagnosed malignancy in 19.33% of cases. Relative diagnostic agreement between the two methods was 0.73 and concordance by Cohen’s Kappa was 0.34, which signifies fair concordance. Conclusion: Cell block study, though having a fair concordance, is much superior to conventional cytology smears in detecting malignant cells and diagnosing a pleural effusion as malignant

Inhibitory effect of <i>Piper betle</i> Linn. leaf extract on protein glycation <span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Symbol" lang="EN-GB">- Quantification and characterization of the antiglycation components </span>

529-536Piper betle Linn. is a Pan-Asiatic plant having several beneficial properties. Protein glycation and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) formation are associated with different pathophysiological conditions, including diabetes mellitus. <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Our study aims to find the effect of methanolic extract of P. betle leaves on in vitro protein glycation in bovine serum albumin (BSA)-glucose model. The extract inhibits glucose-induced glycation, thiol group modification and carbonyl formation in BSA in dose-dependent manner. It inhibits different stages of protein glycation, as demonstrated by using glycation models: hemoglobin-<span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-ascii-font-family: " times="" new="" roman";mso-hansi-font-family:"times="" roman";letter-spacing:-.1pt;="" mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:symbol"="" lang="EN-GB">d-gluconolactone (for early stage, Amadori product formation), BSA-methylglyoxal (for middle stage, formation of oxidative cleavage products) and BSA-glucose (for last stage, formation of AGEs) systems. Several phenolic compounds are isolated from the extract. Considering their relative amounts present in the extract, rutin appears to be the most active antiglycating agent. The extract of P. betle leaf may thus have beneficial effect in preventing protein glycation and associated complications in pathological conditions. </span

A splash in a one-dimensional cold gas

We consider a set of hard point particles distributed uniformly with a specified density on the positive half-line and all initially at rest. The particle masses alternate between two values, $m$ and $M$. The particles interact via collisions that conserve energy and momentum. We study the cascade of activity that results when the left-most particle is given a positive velocity. At long times we find that this leads to two fascinating features in the observed dynamics. First, in the bulk of the gas, a shock front develops separating the cold gas from a thermalized region. The shock-front travels sub-ballistically, with the bulk described by self-similar solutions of Euler hydrodynamics. Second, there is a splash region formed by the recoiled particles which move ballistically with negative velocities. The splash region is completely non-hydrodynamic and we propose two conjectures for the long time particle dynamics in this region. We provide a detailed analytic understanding of these coexisting regimes. These are supported by the results of molecular dynamics simulations

Subclinical Hemorrhagic Tendency in β-Thalassaemia

Background Alterations of coagulation profile have been reported in patients with β-thalassaemia major (β-TM). Method To investigate this in the paediatric population, we studied haemostatic parameters in pre-transfusion blood samples from 50 non-splenectomised transfusion-dependent children with β-TM (mean age 6±2.5 years) and in blood from 25 healthy controls. Results Laboratory evaluation showed thrombocytopenia in 40%, prolongation of prothrombin time (PT) in 12% and prolongation of activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) in 6% of the patients. Mean values for PT, APTT and platelet count (PC) were all raised in the patient population compared with the controls. The alteration of coagulation status was significant for PT (p value 0.05). No significant linear correlation could be identified between PT, APTT, PC of the patients and interval between transfusions (in days) or days since last transfusion. Conclusion The findings from this study suggest that a subclinical haemorrhagic tendency exists in patients with β-TM at a very early age. The intrinsic pathway appears to be more affected than the extrinsic pathway

Broadband spin-filtered minimalistic magnetic tunnel junction

The tri-layer magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) has surfaced as a building block for engineering next-generation integrated circuits while combining the attributes of non-volatility and meager energy consumption. Nevertheless, the perceptible switching energy (≈20–50 fJ/bit) and sub-optimal tunnelmagnetoresistance (TMR) (≈200%–300%) have acted as major hindrances, concealing its potential to supersede the capabilities of static and dynamic random access memories. In this work, we introduce a novel device that features a minimalistic non-uniform heterostructure/superlattice instead of the oxide layer in a conventional MTJ and analyze it in the premise of the self-consistent coupling of the Non-Equilibrium-Green’s Function (NEGF) and the Landau-Liftshitz-Gilbert-Slonczewski (LLGS) equation. We ascertain that the coupling of the electrodes to the proposed heterostructure renders a highly spin-selective broadband transmittance, thereby enabling a towering TMR (%) of 3.7 × 104% along with a significant reduction in the spin transfer torque (STT) switching energy (≈1.96 fJ). Furthermore, the sizable slonczewski term (Is‖) originating from the heterostructure facilitates a swift STT-switching within the scale of a few hundred picoseconds (≈400 ps)