Trends of metals (Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, Mn, Fe, Hg and Ni) concentration in the New Jersey air environment

The atmospheric concentrations and relative trends of ten trace elements (Co, Cd, Fe, Hg, Pb, Ni, Zn, Cu, Cr and Mn) were studied at Elizabeth and Carteret, New Jersey from July 1987 to September 1989. The specific sites are Industrial and Residential Interface areas. The analytical procedure involved collection of the airborne particulates on a quartz microfiber filter using a high volume sampler. The samples were digested and then analyzed using the atomic absorption spectrometer. Elizabeth usually showed lower values for the metals than Carteret. Average concentrations (ng/m3) for the respective metals over the entire project are: Metal: Co Cd Fe Hg Pb Elizabeth: 9.56 1.78 495.45 0.48 29.66 Carteret: 12.78 3.32 788.64 0.58 49.18 Metal: Ni Zn Cu Cr Mn Elizabeth: 18.78 103.56 44.60 18.96 16.40 Carteret: 33.21 106.81 89.20 27.46 24.28 It was determined that there were significant variations (more than 25%) in average levels of the metals Cadmium, Iron, Lead, Nickel, Copper, Chromium and Manganese, between the Elizabeth and the Carteret sites. In addition there are variations of over 50% in levels of quarterly averages for Iron, Copper, Nickel at the Carteret site and Copper, Nickel and Iron at the Elizabeth site. The results were compared with those of a previous NJIT study from 1981 and 1982 at Elizabeth and Newark, New Jersey where the levels of Lead, Iron, Cadmium, Manganese, Copper, and Nickel were quantitated. For. Pb the following illustrates the very significant decrease observed. Comparison Site % Pb decrease Elizabeth 88/89 - Elizabeth 81/82 91.3 Elizabeth 88/89 - Newark 81/82 92.0 Carteret 88/89 - Elizabeth 81/82 85.5 Carteret 88/89 - Newark 81/82 86.8 These decreases in Lead concentrations are assigned to decreased use of lead in Vehicular fuels. Zinc and Cadmium also showed similar trends to that of Lead with a decrease of 15.55 in 88/89 for Elizabeth when compared with Elizabeth 81/82 and 61.3% decrease when compared with the Newark site. Manganese, Copper and Nickel showed increases in concentration for this 1988/89 study by 50.5%, 68.1% and 65.4% respectively relative to the Elizabeth 1881/82 site. Statistical Analysis on metal concentration as a function at the 3-hour average wind direction reported by the US Meteorological Service has also been performed to determine trends in metal concentration vs wind direction

Oscillation of Second Order Quasi-linear Differential Equation with Several Neutral Terms

This paper deals with the oscillatory behavior of solutions of second order neutral type differential equations. The results obtained here extend some of the existing results. Examples are provided to illustrate the main results

Data Storage, Security And Techniques In Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is the computing technology which provides resources like software, hardware, services over the internet. Cloud computing provides computation, software, data access, and storage services that do not require end- user knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the system that delivers the services. Cloud computing enables the user and organizations to store their data remotely and enjoy good quality applications on the demand without having any burden associated with local hardware resources and software managements but it possesses a new security risk towards correctness of data stored at cloud. The data storage in the cloud has been a promising issue in these days. This is due to the fact that the users are storing their valuable data and information in the cloud. The users should trust the cloud service providers to provide security for their data. Cloud storage services avoid the cost storage services avoids the cost expensive on software, personnel maintains and provides better performance less storage cost and scalability, cloud services through internet which increase their exposure to storage security vulnerabilities however security is one of the major drawbacks that preventing large organizations to enter into cloud computing environment. This work surveyed on several storage techniques and this advantage and its drawbacks

Borderline Ovarian Malignancies : A Single Institute Retrospective Study.

Background: Borderline ovarian tumors are histologically characterized as epithelial tumors with a stratified growth pattern but without destructive stromal invasion. Little is known about the histological subtypes and outcome, role of fertility sparing surgery and role of postoperative therapy in advanced stage in Indian scenario. While there is ample data in the world literature about this disease, prognosis in Indian patients is largely unknown due to dearth of studies in our setting. Objective: To study the demographic profile, clinical features, imaging, treatment and outcome of borderline ovarian tumors. Methods: This is a retrospective study of eighty seven patients with pathologically proven diagnosis of borderline ovarian tumor, diagnosed and treated from January 2006 to October 2011 at our institution. Most patients underwent surgical staging which incuded total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salphingo-oophorectomy, infracolic omentectomy, bilateral pelvic and para aortic lymphadenectomy. Young patients who had not completed their family underwent fertility sparing surgery. Patients with invasive metastatic implants received adjuvant chemotherapy. The outcome of these patients was correlated with stage, type of peritoneal implant, type of surgical procedure and with histological subtype. Results: At a median follow-up of 48 months, 100 percent survival was noted. One patient with stage III disease had recurrence. Conclusions: Borderline ovarian tumors occur at a younger age compared to invasive tumors. In patients with early stage disease who wish to preserve fertility, hysterectomy and contralateral oophorectomy are not necessary. Serous tumors occur at a younger age. They can be associated with invasive peritoneal implants and raised CA125 values. Majority of the serous tumors are bilateral and smaller in size compared to mucinous and endometroid tumors. Raised CA125 values did not correlate with the stage of disease. These patients have an excellent prognosis even in Indian scenario where majority of patients present with big ovarian masses

IN VITRO ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITIES OF AQUEOUS AND ETHANOLIC LEAF EXTRACTS OF ACACIA AURICULIFORMIS

Objective: The present study focuses on in vitro antimicrobial properties of aqueous and ethanol leaf extract of Acacia auriculiformis tested on Gram-positive cocci, Gram-negative bacilli, multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacilli, and fungus.Methods: Ethanol and aqueous extracts of the leaves of A. auriculiformis were prepared. Agar well diffusion was the method for antimicrobial susceptibility. Freshly grown standard strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) , Escherchia coli (E.coli) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, clinical strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Candida albicans (C. ailbicans), and MDR E. coli, and MDR Klebsiella pnuemoniae were used. Ampicillin disc (10 μg) was used as control.Results: The zone of inhibition was measured to determine the antimicrobial activity. Ethanolic extract of A. auriculiformis exhibited antibacterial activity against all the strains including MDR strains of K. pneumoniae and E. coli. Antifungal activity was exhibited by both aqueous and ethanol leaf extracts of A. auriculiformis.Conclusion: Ethanol extract could be used against MDR K. pneumoniae and MDR E. coli. Similarly, aqueous and ethanol extract can be the drug of choice for C. albicans infection. Further study is necessary to evaluate the accurate compound responsible for antibacterial and antifungal activity for pharmaceutical applications

An experimental evaluation of gastro protective activity of paracetamol on ulcerogenicity of some NSAIDs in albino rats

Background: Fixed dose combinations (FDCs) of NSAIDs are commonly prescribed and extensively sold over the counter. An indiscriminate usage of them leads to toxicity, mainly involving gastrointestinal system. Paracetamol appears to have controversial reputation regarding its gastro protective action. In this background, the study was planned to evaluate gastro protective effect of paracetamol on the ulcerogenicity of some relatively new NSAIDs in their therapeutic and sub therapeutic doses.Methods: Gatric toxicity and gastric juice analysis- Pyloric ligation method was adopted for assessing the ulcer index of 3 NSAIDs namely aceclofenac, nimesulide and lornoxicam individually and in combination with paracetamol. Gastric juice collected was subjected for total juice volume, free acidity, combined acidity and total acid output.Results: Paracetamol produced non significant gastric damage similar to that of control. When co administered with therapeutic doses of aceclofenac, nimesulide and lornoxicam, there was significant decrease in their gastric toxicity in a uniform manner and the ulcerogenicity of these NSAIDs in sub therapeutic doses was not affected by paracetamol. This upholds the uniform gastro protective activity of paracetamol in this study and this could be explained by its anti acid secretory action on gastric juice.Conclusions: Paracetamol, itself has least gastric damaging property. When co administered with other NSAIDs, their toxicity is rather reduced than enhancing the mucosal damage by them. Thus FDCs of various NSAIDs available in market are partially justifiable

Sensor/Control Surface Fault Detection and Reconfiguration using Fuzzy Logic

In the aircraft flight control systems, a quick detection of the faults, that occur in actuators, control surfaces or sensors, is necessary. In this paper, sensor fault detection and reconfiguration is performed using Kalman filter by estimating the states of the plant and comparing them with respective measured values from the sensors. Sensor fault detection and reconfiguration is carried out using non-model-based fuzzy logic technique. Control surface fault detection and reconfiguration is carried out by identifying the elements of control distribution matrix using extended Kalman filter and fuzzy logic. In estimating the factor of effectiveness of the control surface using fuzzy logic, different implication methods such as Mamadani's minimum, Larsen's product, bounded product and drastic product have been used and a comparison is made.Defence Science Journal, 2010, 60(1), pp.76-86, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.60.11

Variable potentiation of analgesic anti- inflammatory activity of diclofenac by two medicinal plants rubia cordifolia and cassia fistula in wistar albino rats

Background: NSAIDS are commonly prescribed drugs in clinical practice. However, their usage is limited by their toxicity profile and research continues for an alternative therapy with higher efficacy and safety. Various plant preparations found to be safe and effective are emerging, but their interactions with synthetic drugs are not much known.Methods: Wistar rats were divided in to four groups of six animals each Rubia cordifolia (RC) root preparation and casissia fistula (CF) leaf preparation were studied with sub anti-inflammatory dose of diclofenac in various analgesic, acute and subacute inflammatory models and test results variables were expressed in mean reaction time, paw edema volume and granuloma weight respectively.Results: Various test results were tabulated, statistically analysed and significance was calculated at P value <0.5. Eddy’s hot plate model did not show any significant change, but carrageenan induced paw edema model and cotton pellet induced granuloma model showed comparable decrease in paw edema volume and granuloma dry weight.Conclusions: Diclofenac, a standard analgesic and anti –inflammatory was not potentiated in pain model but it was potentiated in carrageenan and cotton pellet granuloma models in a variable manner. CF potentiates acute anti-inflammatory action, whereas RC potentiates subacute anti-inflammatory actions of diclofenac

ESTIMATION OF METOPROLOL IN HUMAN PLASMA BY HPLC METHOD

Objective: The current project was undertaken to develop and validate a simple method for estimation of metoprolol in human plasma using HPLC. Before implementing the method on human plasma it was developed from scratch and validated, further human plasma was spiked with drug to achieve considerable results. Methods: From UV absorption studies, λmax of metoprolol was found to be 262 nm. The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile-potassium phosphate (pH 3.0) buffer in the ratio of 60:40 v/v. Propanolol was used as working internal standard. Standardization of metoprolol was performed on Grace C18 ODS (250 mm X 4.6 mm) reversed-phase column packed with 5 µm spherical ODS packing. Isocratic elution with acetonitrile-potassium phosphate (pH 3.0) buffer (60:40 v/v) was performed at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min at ambient temperature. Shimadzu SPD 10 AT VP variable wavelength detectors and injection loop of 50 μl were used and metoprolol detection was carried out at 262 nm. The same method was implemented on human plasma spiked with the drug.Results: Retention time of metoprolol was found to be 4.07±0.02 min and propranolol was found to be 3.98±0.05 min and when the plasma was spiked with the drug retention time of human plasma was 2.20±0.01 min, retention time of internal standard (Propranolol) was 3.89±0.05 min and retention time of metoprolol was 4.14±0.02 min respectively. The method developed was found to comply with standards LOD (Limit of Detection), LOQ (Limit of Quantification), Precision and Accuracy (Intra- and Inter-day variation), Specificity, Selectivity and Recovery/Extraction efficiency. Various validation parameters were analyzed and found to be complying well within the range.Conclusion: Thus it can be concluded that the method developed is compatible for the estimation of the drug in human plasma and the same can be utilized to estimate the concentrations of the drug in patients on metoprolol therapy.Â

An experimental evaluation of anti-inflammatory activities of some combined NSAID preparations in albino rats

Background: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are among the most commonly used drugs across the globe and they are also available over the counter for minor symptoms of pain and inflammation. Their toxicity profile limits their continued usage and search is continuing for the better effective and safer agent.Methods: Interaction of paracetamol with diclofenac, ibuprofen and mefenamic acid were studied on carrageenan induced rat paw edema and cotton pellet induced granuloma models. Potentiation of these NSAIDs by paracetamol was also studied on same models.Results: Addition of paracetamol did not increase anti-inflammatory activity of diclofenac, ibuprofen and mefenamic acid in both acute and subacute models of inflammation. Paracetamol found to potentiate the ibuprofen action in anti-inflammatory model where as in subacute inflammatory model diclofenac action was potentited.Conclusions: Our study does not support the rationality of various fixed dose combination of NSAIDs with paracetamol available in market. Either NSAIDs to be used individually or their dose need to be decreased in fixed dose combination