Climatic conditions : conventional and nanotechnology-based methods for the control of mosquito vectors causing human health issues

Climate variability is highly impacting on mosquito-borne diseases causing malaria and dengue fever across the globe. Seasonal variability change in temperature and rainfall patterns are impacting on human health. Mosquitoes cause diseases like dengue fever, yellow fever, malaria, Chikungunya, West Nile and Japanese encephalitis. According to estimations by health organizations, annually one million human deaths are caused by vector-borne diseases, and dengue fever has increased about 30-fold over the past 50 years. Similarly, over 200 million cases of malaria are being reported annually. Mosquito-borne diseases are sensitive to temperature, humidity and seasonal variability. Both conventional (environmental, chemical, mechanical, biological etc.) and nanotechnology-based (Liposomes, nano-suspensions and polymer-based nanoparticles) approaches are used for the eradication of Malaria and dengue fever. Now green approaches are used to eradicate mosquitoes to save human health without harming the environment. In this review, the impact of climatic conditions on mosquito-borne diseases along with conventional and nanotechnology-based approaches used for controlling malaria and dengue fever have been discussed. Important recommendations have been made for people to stay healthy

Management and Complications of Arnold Chiari Hydrocephalus at Tertiary Health Care Center

Objective: to investigate the role of CT and MRI in diagnosis of Arnold chiari malformation of hydrocephalus and its treatment with VP shunt along with complications. Study Design: Prospective study Place and duration: Department of Neurosurgery, DG Khan Medical College from May 4, 2018 to May 4, 2019. Methodology: Fifty patients of congenital hydrocephalus who were not treated previously were selected. Detailed history about disease and clinical examination of patients was performed. Follow ups were done at neurosurgery OPD. SPSS software for data analysis was used and mean ± SD, frequency and percentages were calculated for variables. P value ≤0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Treatment in case of congenital hydrocephalus as VP shunt, intra-aneurysmal coiling, excision of meningomyelocele with VP shunt and suboccipital craniectomy + upper cervical laminectomy (scucl) were observed as 10%, 6%, 8% and 8% respectively.  Twelve percent of patients were not treated. Conclusion: CT and MRI are the main diagnostic tools for diagnosis of Arnold chiari malformation and VP shunt is the treatment of choice. Among complications of VP shunt infection of shunt and shunt block are the main complications

Extraction of Cerium (IV) Using Di–n-butylsulfoxide in Chloroform from Nitric Acid and Determination with Arsenazo (III) as Chromogenic Reagent

A new and advantageous extraction procedure was developed for extraction of cerium (IV) from nitric acid with di-n-butylsulfoxide (DBSO) in perchloric acid. The extracted Ce (IV) was determined spectrophotometrically using 0.01 % solution of arsenazo-III in 3Mper-chloric acid. Various parameters such as equilibration time, metal ion concentration, effect of temperature and diverse ions on the extraction of the Ce (IV) were established. U (VI), Th (IV) and Pb (II) interfere whereas only phosphate and fluoride suppress the extraction among anions. The stoichiometric composition of the cerium complex withDBSO was determined by slope analysis and found to be 1:4. The process of extraction was found to be exothermic. Deionized water was the most appropriate solvent for back extraction of cerium. This method is easier and more sensitive than many of the reported procedures.KEYWORDS Cerium, extraction, DBSO, perchloric acid, arsenazo-II

Detection & Distinction of Colors using Color Sorting Robotic Arm in a Pick & Place Mechanism

Color sorting Robot is one of the useful, costless and fastest systems in Industrial applications to reduce manual working time and provides less human mistake when manual system is undertaken. The objective of this project is to design an efficient, microcontroller based system that pick up right color of objects and put it down at right place to optimize the productivity, minimizing the cost of the products and decreasing human mistakes. The controller used is a PIC Microcontroller (18F452) having high speed performance, low cost and 32 K bytes program memory. It communicates with color sensor TCS 3200 and various motor modules in real time to detect the right color object and to control the arm movement. Designed system can pick objects of 1kG weight and arm can rotate up to 3600 . Also, the use of easily available components reduces the manufacturing and maintenance costs. The design is quite flexible as the software can be changed according to specific requirements of the user. This makes the proposed system to be an economical, portable and a low maintenance solution for industrial applications

Multipliers of Modules of Continuous Vector-Valued Functions

In 1961, Wang showed that if A is the commutative C*-algebra C0(X) with X a locally compact Hausdorff space, then M(C0(X))≅Cb(X). Later, this type of characterization of multipliers of spaces of continuous scalar-valued functions has also been generalized to algebras and modules of continuous vector-valued functions by several authors. In this paper, we obtain further extension of these results by showing that HomC0(X,A)(C0(X,E),C0(X,F))≃Cs,b(X,HomA(E,F)), where E and F are p-normed spaces which are also essential isometric left A-modules with A being a certain commutative F-algebra, not necessarily locally convex. Our results unify and extend several known results in the literature

Synthesis, structural and photo-physical studies of transition metal complexes with Mannich bases derived from 2-mercaptobenzimidazole

Two Mannich base ligands, [1-(di-n-butylamine-N-methyl)mercapto-1H-benz-imidazole] (L1) and [1-(diphenylamine-N-methyl)mercapto-1H-benzimidazole] (L2)have been synthesized and further reacted with Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) ionsto afford their respective complexes. The progress of the reaction was monitored by thin layer chromatography. The structural elucidation of Mannich base ligands and their metal complexes was done by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), UV-Visible, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR & 13C NMR) and Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) / Inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy (ICPES). FTIR and NMR studies supported the monoanionic bidentate coordination mode of L1 and L2 while tetrahedral geometries of metal complexes were proposed on the basis of AAS/ICP, magnetic moment and electronic spectroscopic data. The synthesized compounds were also investigated for their luminescent behavior which exhibited broad emission bands indicating charge transfer nature of the involved transitions.               KEY WORDS: Metal complexes, Mannich bases, 2-Mercaptobenzimidazole, Luminescence Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2018, 32(3), 481-490.DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v32i3.

Antibacterial activity studies of Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes with Mannich base ligand

ABSTRACT. A Mannich base ligand (L) was prepared by reacting 2-mercaptobenzimidazole, diphenylamine and benzaldehyde. This ligand (L) was further used for the preparation of four metal complexes with Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) ions. The reactions were monitored by TLC. The synthesized compounds were structurally characterized using FTIR spectroscopy, UV-Visible spectroscopy, 1H- and 13C-NMR spectroscopy, ICP-OES/atomic absorption spectroscopy. It has been observed that the ligand (L) behaved in a monoanionic bidentate mode and the geometry of resulting complexes was tetrahedral. Conductivity analysis revealed their non-electrolytic nature. Antibacterial activity of the synthesized compounds was assessed through an agar well diffusion method against four strains of Gram-negative bacteria. L-Zn(II) complex showed best activity at all four concentrations against the four strains of Gram-negative bacteria.               KEY WORDS: Metal complexes, Mannich bases, 2-Mercaptobenzimidazole, Antibacterial activity Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2019, 33(3), 485-492.DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v33i3.

Mobile robots for in-process monitoring of aircraft systems assemblies

Currently, systems installed on large-scale aerospace structures are manually equipped by trained operators. To improve current methods, an automated system that ensures quality control and process adherence could be used. This work presents a mobile robot capable of autonomously inspecting aircraft systems and providing feedback to workers. The mobile robot can follow operators and localise the position of the inspection using a thermal camera and 2D lidars. While moving, a depth camera collects 3D data about the system being installed. The in-process monitoring algorithm uses this information to check if the system has been correctly installed. Finally, based on these measurements, indications are shown on a screen to provide feedback to the workers. The performance of this solution has been validated in a laboratory environment, replicating a trailing edge equipping task. During testing, the tracking and localisation systems have proven to be reliable. The in-process monitoring system was also found to provide accurate feedback to the operators. Overall, the results show that the solution is promising for industrial applications

Evaluation of Safety of Stewart’s Wood Fern (Dryopteris stewartii) and Its Anti-Hyperglycemic Potential in Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Mice

Diabetes has become a critical challenge to the global health concerns. Cytotoxicity and development of resistance against available drugs for management of diabetes have shifted the focus of global scientific researchers from synthetic to herbal medications. Therefore, the current study was conducted to investigate the possible anti-hyperglycemic potential of Dryopteris stewartii using Swiss albino mice. To evaluate any possible toxic effect of the plant, acute oral toxicity test was performed while the anti-diabetic effects of aqueous and ethanol extracts at 500 mg/kg, positive, negative and normal control were assessed simultaneously. The anti-diabetic study revealed that aqueous extract has higher anti-diabetic potential than ethanol extract while lowered blood glucose level at second week reaching 150 mg/dL, exerting stronger anti-diabetic effects, compared to ethanol extract (190 mg/dL). Oral glucose tolerance findings revealed that aqueous extract decreased blood glucose level by −0.41-fold, compared to ethanol extract showing a decrease by only −0.29-folds. The histopathological evaluation of liver and pancreas of all groups revealed normal cell architecture with no morphological abnormalities. These results suggested the possible use of D. stewartii as anti-diabetic herbal drug in near future. However, these recommendations are conditioned by deep mechanistic studies