Estimation of production cross-sections, transmutation and gas generation from radionuclides (A ∼50-60) in fusion environment.

Degradation of material properties under neutron irradiation generates a requirement for studying effects on materials in a fusion environment and optimizing radiation-resistant materials for future applications. In the present work, the durability of stainless steel (SS) alloy used in ITER-like fusion devices is studied. We have predicted the amount of radionuclides produced in the material upon neutron irradiation at various locations is determined using the ACTYS, neutron activation code, for a typical one-dimensional geometry of ITER-like fusion reactor. The ACTYS code is further used to determine the gas production from 55Fe, 59Ni, and other long-lived radionuclides in the material. To further stress the importance of gas production in fusion materials, a comparative study of gas production cross-sections as given in various standard data libraries is examined using TALYS-1.8 and is presented in the paper.

Soft & Hard Tissue Assessment around Immediate & Delayed Implants: A Clinico-Radiographical Study.

The aim of the modern dentistry is to provide the predictable treatment in short duration. Replacement of missing teeth in shorter duration helps in fulfilling patient's aesthetics and functional demands. Endosseous dental implants are predictable method for replacing missing dentition. The evolution in implant surgical techniques is focused on decreasing treatment duration, e.g. implants can be placed in fresh extraction socket. Therefore, this non-randomized clinical controlled study was designed to determine that whether the treatment outcomes obtained by short treatment duration (immediate implant) are comparable with conventional treatment options (delayed implant) by evaluating the peri-implant soft and hard tissue level, clinically and radiographically {by Cone beam computed tommography (CBCT)}. Total of 30 implants were placed in 13 patients, according to Type 1 ITI protocol (Group 1; 15 implants) and Type 4 ITI protocol (Group 2; 15 implants). Implants in each group were loaded with definitive restoration after 3 months of placement. Hard tissue parameters (marginal bone width and height and probing depth) and soft tissue parameters (width of keratinised gingiva and papillary index) were evaluated at baseline, 3 months post implant insertion and 3 months post prosthetic loading. The results showed statistically significant reduction in width of marginal bone in delayed implants as compared to immediate implants. In contrast, significant reduction in marginal bone height and width of keratinised gingiva was evident in immediate implants. Significant reduction in pocket depth (after 2nd stage surgery and 3 months post prosthetic loading) was noted around delayed implants (p<0.05). Moreover, esthetic results showed regeneration of interproximal papillae in both the groups till the end of study period. This study was concluded that both the groups showed similar results but in some aspects delayed implants was superior to immediate implants. Careful evaluation of implant placement sites before implant installation promotes optimal implant esthetics and survival outcomes.

m-carboxycinnamic acid bishydroxamide improves developmental competence, reduces apoptosis and alters epigenetic status and gene expression pattern in cloned buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) embryos.

Incomplete or aberrant reprogramming of nuclear genome is one of the major problems in somatic cell nuclear transfer. In this study, we studied the effect of histone deacetylase inhibitor m-carboxycinnamic acid bishydroxamide (CBHA) on in vitro development of buffalo embryos produced by Hand-made cloning. Cloned embryos were treated with CBHA (0, 5, 10, 20 or 50 µM) for 10 hr from the start of reconstruction till activation. At 10 µM, but not at other concentrations examined, CBHA increased (p < .05) the blastocyst rate (63.77 ± 3.97% vs 48.63 ± 3.55%) and reduced (p < .05) the apoptotic index of the cloned blastocysts (8.91 ± 1.94 vs 4.36 ± 1.08) compared to untreated controls, to levels similar to those in IVF blastocysts (4.78 ± 0.74). CBHA treatment, at all the concentrations examined, increased (p < .05) the global level of H3K9ac in cloned blastocysts than in untreated controls to that observed in IVF blastocysts. Treatment with CBHA (10 µM) decreased (p < .05) the global level of H3K27me3 in cloned blastocysts than in untreated controls but it was still higher (p < .05) than in IVF blastocysts. CBHA (10 µM) treatment increased (p < .05) the relative expression level of pluripotency-related genes OCT-4 and NANOG, and anti-apoptotic gene BCL-XL, and decreased (p < .05) that of pro-apoptotic gene BAX than in untreated controls but did not affect the relative expression level of apoptosis-related genes p53 and CASPASE3 and epigenetics-related genes DNMT1, DNMT3a and HDAC1. These results suggest that treatment of cloned embryos with 10 µM CBHA improves the blastocyst rate, reduces the level of apoptosis and alters the epigenetic status and gene expression pattern.

Personalized cumulative UV tracking on mobiles & wearables.

Maintaining a balanced Ultra Violet (UV) exposure level is vital for a healthy living as the excess of UV dose can lead to critical diseases such as skin cancer while the absence can cause vitamin D deficiency which has recently been linked to onset of cardiac abnormalities. Here, we propose a personalized cumulative UV dose (CUVD) estimation system for smartwatch and smartphone devices having the following novelty factors; (a) sensor orientation invariant measurement of UV exposure using a bootstrap resampling technique, (b) estimation of UV exposure using only light intensity (lux) sensor (c) optimal UV exposure dose estimation. Our proposed method will eliminate the need for a dedicated UV sensor thus widen the user base of the proposed solution, render it unobtrusive by eliminating the critical requirement of orienting the device in a direction facing the sun. The system is implemented on android mobile platform and validated on 1200 minutes of lux and UV index (UVI) data collected across several days covering morning to evening time frames. The result shows very impressive final UVI estimation accuracy. We believe our proposed solution will enable the future wearable and smartphone users to obtain a seamless personalized UV exposure dose across a day paving a way for simple yet very useful recommendations such as right skin protective measure for reducing risk factors of long term UV exposure related diseases like skin cancer and, cardiac abnormality.

Allogenic bone grafts in post-traumatic juxta-articular defects: Need for allogenic bone banking.

Allogenic bone banking provide both structural and granular bone grafts for various orthopaedic, spinal, oncological and dental surgeries. However allogenic bones, presently, are not readily available. This article discusses the clinical applications of the allogenic grafts, the screening criteria and procedure for maintenance of such a bone banking facility. This article demonstrates the effective role of allogenic bone in a case of post-traumatic bone loss situation and discusses the growing need and present situation of bone banking in our country.

Field induced spontaneous quasiparticle decay and renormalization of quasiparticle dispersion in a quantum antiferromagnet.

The notion of a quasiparticle, such as a phonon, a roton or a magnon, is used in modern condensed matter physics to describe an elementary collective excitation. The intrinsic zero-temperature magnon damping in quantum spin systems can be driven by the interaction of the one-magnon states and multi-magnon continuum. However, detailed experimental studies on this quantum many-body effect induced by an applied magnetic field are rare. Here we present a high-resolution neutron scattering study in high fields on an S=1/2 antiferromagnet C9H18N2CuBr4. Compared with the non-interacting linear spin-wave theory, our results demonstrate a variety of phenomena including field-induced renormalization of one-magnon dispersion, spontaneous magnon decay observed via intrinsic linewidth broadening, unusual non-Lorentzian two-peak structure in the excitation spectra and a dramatic shift of spectral weight from one-magnon state to the two-magnon continuum.

Lower limb orthopedic surgery in geriatric patients under paravertebral blocks: A prospective feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: Aging causes progressive deterioration of all the organ systems. Physiological changes of aging and co-morbidities make regional anesthesia a preferred technique for this age group. Regional anesthesia with risk of hypotension and its consequences is fraught with dangers. Peripheral nerve blocks (PNBs) are much safer and give much superior post-op analgesia. The present study was undertaken to perform major lower limb orthopedic surgeries PNBs in geriatric settings. METHODS: A feasibility study was undertaken in patients above age of 60 years admitted for lower limb surgeries to undertake these surgeries under para-vertebral blocks for a period of one year from Mar 2011 to Feb 2012. RESULTS: The responses and results of 203 eligible patients averaging 69.5 years. Mean duration of surgical procedure was 174.6 min and surgical analgesia was 334.5 min. Mean time of analgesic supplementation postoperative 398.3 min. The incidence of adverse effects (hypotension) requiring intervention was 5 out of 203, failure rate 2 out of 203. CONCLUSION: All major lower limb surgeries can be done under combined lumbar and sacral plexus block with additional supplementation for the skin at the line of incision especially in case the surgery involving hip with intercostal block at 11th ICS. The study strongly recommends it as a technique of choice in geriatric cases rather than reserving it for only moribund cases.

Treatment of buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) donor cells with trichostatin A and 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine alters their growth characteristics, gene expression and epigenetic status and improves the in vitro developmental competence, quality and epigenetic status of cloned embryos.

We examined the effects of treating buffalo skin fibroblast donor cells with trichostatin A (TSA), a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, and 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5azadC), a DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitor, on the cells and embryos produced by hand-made cloning. Treatment of donor cells with TSA or 5azadC resulted in altered expression levels of the HDAC1, DNMT1, DNMT3a, P53, CASPASE3 and CASPASE9 genes and global levels of acetylation of lysine at position 9 or 14 in histone 3 (H3K9/14ac), acetylation of lysine at position 5 in histone 4 (H4K5ac), acetylation of lysine at position 18 in histone 3 (H3K18ac) and tri-methylation of lysine at position 27 in histone 3 (H3K27me3). Moreover, global levels of DNA methylation and activity of DNMT1 and HDAC1 were decreased, while global acetylation of H3 and H3K9 was significantly increased in comparison to untreated cells. Simultaneous treatment of donor cells with TSA (50nM) and 5azadC (7.5nM) resulted in higher in vitro development to the blastocyst stage, reduction of the apoptotic index and the global level of H3K27 me3 and altered expression levels of HDAC1, P53, CASPASE3, CASPASE9 and DNMT3a in cloned blastocysts. Transfer of cloned embryos produced with donor cells treated with TSA led to the birth of a calf that survived for 21 days. These results show that treatment of buffalo donor cells with TSA and 5azadC improved developmental competence and quality of cloned embryos and altered their epigenetic status and gene expression, and that these beneficial effects were mediated by a reduction in DNA and histone methylation and an increase in histone acetylation in donor cells.

Neutron activation cross-sections for Ytterbium isotopes at (14.6±0.3)MeV.

The cross-sections of (nat)Yb (n,x)(172,173) Tm, (174)Yb(n,p) (174) Tm, (174)Yb (n,α) (171)Er, (176)Yb(n,p) (176) Tm, (176)Yb(n,α)(173) Er, and (176) Yb(n,n')(176m)Yb have been measured at 14.6±0.3MeV neutron energy, among them two cross-sections (nat)Yb (n,x)(172,173)Tm are reported for the first time. These experimental cross-sections are compared with experimental data found in the literature, with evaluated nuclear data in JENDL-4.0 and TENDL-2010 libraries and with theoretically calculated values based on nuclear reaction modular codes EMPIRE-3.0 and TALYS-1.2.

A compact rotating dilution refrigerator.

We describe the design and performance of a new rotating dilution refrigerator that will primarily be used for investigating the dynamics of quantized vortices in superfluid (4)He. All equipment required to operate the refrigerator and perform experimental measurements is mounted on two synchronously driven, but mechanically decoupled, rotating carousels. The design allows for relative simplicity of operation and maintenance and occupies a minimal amount of space in the laboratory. Only two connections between the laboratory and rotating frames are required for the transmission of electrical power and helium gas recovery. Measurements on the stability of rotation show that rotation is smooth to around 10(-3) rad s(-1) up to angular velocities in excess of 2.5 rad s(-1). The behavior of a high-Q mechanical resonator during rapid changes in rotation has also been investigated.

HRTEM and FTIR investigation of nanosized zinc ferrite irradiated with 100 MeV oxygen ions.

Present work aims to investigate effect of 100 MeV oxygen ion irradiation on the vibrational modes of zinc ferrite nanoparticles. Nanosize zinc ferrite systems of different crystallite size ranging from 12-62 nm were irradiated at the fluence of 1×10(13) and 5×10(13) ions/cm(2). High resolution transmission electron micrograph study indicates the structural disorder induced by ion irradiation. Bands corresponding to various vibrational modes in Fourier transform infrared spectra exhibit changes and are affected by the crystallite size/microstructure of pristine samples. The irradiation induced changes are dominated for sample ZF1000.

Effect of long-term application of treated sewage water on heavy metal accumulation in vegetables grown in northern India.

Use of industrial and wastewater for irrigation is on the rise in India and other developing countries because of scarcity of good-quality irrigation water. Wastewaters contain plant nutrients that favour crop growth but leave a burden of heavy metals which can enter the food chain and is a cause of great concern. The present study was undertaken on the long-term impact of irrigation with treated sewage water for growing vegetables and the potential health risk associated with consumption of such vegetable. Treated sewage water (TSW), groundwater (GW), soil and plant samples were collected from peri urban vegetable growing areas of Northern India (Varanasi) and analysed to assess the long-term effect of irrigation with TSW on Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb build-up in soils and its subsequent transfer into commonly grown vegetable crops. Results indicate that TSW was richer in essential plant nutrients but contained Cd, Cr and Ni in amounts well above the permissible limits for its use as irrigation water. Long-term application of TSW resulted in significant build-up of total and DTPA extractable Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb over GW irrigated sites. TSW also resulted in slight lowering in pH, increase in organic carbon (1.6 g kg(-1)) and cation exchange capacity (5.2 cmol kg(-1)). The tissue metal concentration and relative efficiency of transfer of heavy metals from soil to plant (transfer factor) for various groups of vegetables were worked out. Radish, turnip and spinach were grouped as hyper accumulator of heavy metals whereas brinjal and cauliflower accumulated less heavy metals. Health risk assessment by consumption of vegetables grown with TSW indicated that all the vegetables were safe for human consumption. However, significant accumulation of these heavy metals in soil and plant needs to be monitored.

Quality of life among HIV positive individuals in Kathmandu valley and Eastern region of Nepal.

BACKGROUND: The alarming increase of HIV/AIDS, inability to afford highly active anti-retroviral therapy, disability and stigma associated with the disease, loss of productivity due to illness, and chronic nature of the disease has made HIV/AIDS one of the most important public health problems in developing countries. The Quality of life assessment is focused on humanistic element and intervention resulting from this result may lead to better overall patient well being. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to assess and compare the quality of life among HIV positive individuals in Kathmandu Valley and Eastern region. METHODS: The study was conducted among 228 HIV positive individuals from Eastern Nepal and 213 from Kathmandu valley and they were compared with an equal number of age-sex matched controls from the community. The instrument used was the WHO QOL-BREF Nepali questionnaire. RESULTS: The HIV positive individuals had significantly lower (P<0.001) QOL scores than the controls in the overall QOL and all the domains of life: Physical, Psychological, Social and Environmental. HIV positive individuals from Kathmandu valley scored significantly better (P<0.001) scores in the Physical and Environmental domains when compared to HIV positive individuals from Eastern region. HIV positive females had a significantly higher (P<0.02) QOL scores for overall QOL and overall perception of health than the males. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that HIV positive individuals have a poorer quality of life than the general population in Kathmandu valley and Eastern region of Nepal and interventions could be targeted to improve this aspect of their health.

Elemental profile of agricultural soil by the EDXRF technique and use of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method to interpret the complex data.

The elemental profile of agricultural soil is important to study the various mechanisms of interaction among elements and their roles in plants growth. The chosen study site was the long term fertilization experiment (LTFE) field of the G.B. Pant University. The concentrations of 16 elements, namely Mg, Al, Si, Ca, K, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr and Pb have been determined in the soil samples by the EDXRF technique. The PCA method is used to interpret the elemental concentrations data.

Role of block copolymer nanoconstructs in cancer therapy.

Drug, gene, and protein delivery is a very challenging and exciting area in nanobiotechnology where block copolymers are increasingly considered especially as carriers for pharmacotherapy of various cancers. Cancer chemotherapy is particularly challenging because of nonselective distribution of drugs, associated severe toxicity, multidrug resistance, and chronic treatments influencing the quality-adjusted life of patients. These limitations lead to incomplete cure and render many drugs ineffective in treating cancers. Liposomes are currently more advanced in clinical trials and industrial developments but they lack stability and pose difficulties in functionalizing liposomes. More recently, various types of polymer-based nanoconstructs have been designed and synthesized, and are being investigated for the cancer chemotherapy applications. This review discusses the most significant and recent developments on specific self-assembled block copolymers as a carrier system such as micelles and vesicles, which can be successfully used to enhance the solubility of hydrophobic drugs, helpful in targeting selective sites in the body, delivering active molecules in a control manner, and reducing the side effects in the treatment of cancer.

Effect of system variables involved in packed column supercritical fluid chromatography of stavudine taken as model analyte using response surface methodology along with study of thermodynamic parameters.

A multifactor optimization technique is successfully applied to study the effect of simultaneously varying the system variables on feasibility of stavudine analysis by packed column supercritical fluid chromatography (PC-SFC). The effect of simultaneously varying the pressure, temperature and modifier concentration was studied to optimize the method in order to obtain excellent chromatographic figures of merit. The method is based on isocratic elution using methanol-modified supercritical carbon dioxide as the mobile phase at the flow rate of 3.0 ml/min through a JASCO Finepak SIL-5, ODS [C(18) (5 microm, 25 cm x 4.6 mm, i.d.)] column support using photodiode array detection. The optimal conditions were determined with the aid of the response surface methodology using 3(3) factorial designs. From the response surface graphs optimum regions were selected to be +1, -1, and +1 for temperature (60 degrees C), pressure (20 MPa) and percent modifier concentration (17.81%, v/v), respectively. Linearity dynamic range was found to be in the range of 2.0-150.0 microg/ml with significantly high value of correlation coefficient. The method was validated for precision, robustness and recovery to assess the viability of the established method. The chromatographic limit of detection and quantitation were 0.80 and 1.50 microg/ml respectively. The method has been successfully used to analyze commercial dosage form to assess the chromatographic performance of SFC system which was found to be 99.91%+/-1.62. The present work briefs the thermodynamic applications of PC-SFC with an emphasis on the results of stavudine. The foremost of such applications is the determination of solute diffusion coefficient in supercritical mobile phase by Taylor-Aris peak broadening technique.

Expression profiles of acute lymphoblastic and myeloblastic leukemias with ALL-1 rearrangements.

The ALL-1 gene is directly involved in 5-10% of acute lymphoblastic leukemias (ALLs) and acute myeloid leukemias (AMLs) by fusion to other genes or through internal rearrangements. DNA microarrays were used to determine expression profiles of ALLs and AMLs with ALL-1 rearrangements. These profiles distinguish those tumors from other ALLs and AMLs. The expression patterns of ALL-1-associated tumors, in particular ALLs, involve oncogenes, tumor suppressors, antiapoptotic genes, drug-resistance genes, etc., and correlate with the aggressive nature of the tumors. The genes whose expression differentiates between ALLs with and without ALL-1 rearrangement were further divided into several groups, enabling separation of ALL-1-associated ALLs into two subclasses. One of the groups included 43 genes that exhibited expression profiles closely linked to ALLs with ALL-1 rearrangements. Further, there were evident differences between the expression profiles of AMLs in which ALL-1 had undergone fusion to other genes and AMLs with partial duplication of ALL-1. The extensive analysis described here pinpointed genes that might have a direct role in pathogenesis.

Distribution of sizes of erased loops of loop-erased random walks in two and three dimensions.

We show that in the loop-erased random-walk problem, the exponent characterizing the probability distribution of areas of erased loops is superuniversal. In d dimensions, the probability that the erased loop has an area A varies as A(-2) for large A, independent of d, for 2< or =d< or =4. We estimate the exponents characterizing the distribution of perimeters and areas of erased loops in d=2 and 3 by large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. Our estimate of the fractal dimension z in two dimensions is consistent with the known exact value 5/4. In three dimensions, we get z=1.6183+/-0.0004. The exponent for the distribution of the durations of avalanches in the three-dimensional Abelian sandpile model is determined from this by using scaling relations.

Knowledge of and attitudes to HIV/AIDS of senior secondary school pupils and trainee teachers in Udupi District, Karnataka, India.

A cross-sectional descriptive study using a questionnaire with mostly closed-ended questions was carried out on 990 pupils and 46 trainee teachers to investigate their knowledge of and attitudes to HIV/AIDS. Pupils in one school were reassessed after a health talk and distribution of a handout. Despite having had no formal sex education, most respondents were reasonably well informed about the transmission of HIV. However, there were many misconceptions about transmission and prevention and 16.9% of pupils were found to possess very little knowledge of HIV/AIDS. Mass media, teachers and health workers were quoted as the main sources of knowledge. It was found that 24.3% pupils and 6.3% of trainee teachers thought there was a cure, and 27.4% of pupils and 14% of trainee teachers thought there was a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. Schools that were rural, private and English-speaking scored better, as did male students and schools teaching science. The necessity of formal sex education was expressed by 98.5% of pupils and all the trainee teachers. The pupils who were reassessed after receiving a talk and handout showed significant improvement in their knowledge and a change in attitude (p < 0.01). The mass media are important in disseminating knowledge on HIV/AIDS in India but due to the lack of inter-personal approaches to the education system, knowledge is inadequate and misconceptions exist.