Nickel-copper-cobalt mixed oxide electrode material for high performance asymmetric supercapacitor.

Nickel copper cobalt oxide (NiCuCoO) ternary metal oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by employing the hydrothermal method. NiCuCoO electrode demonstrates a specified capacity of 596 C g-1 at 1 A g-1, high capacitance retaining of 99% even if 1000 sequences at the density of current 10 A g-1, and significant extended cyclic strength over 1000 sequences. The gathered asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) tool via NiCuCoO as the cathode and activated carbon as anode materials achieve a specified capacity of 168 C g-1 at a current density of 1 Ag-1, an excellent capacity retaining of 95% even later than 5000 sequences at a density of current 10 A g-1. The fabricated device exhibits a high density of energy and power is 96 Wh kg-1 and 841 W kg-1. The prepared material confirms an excellent capacitance routine, so this work represents for a next-generation energy storage device.

Influence of Mindfulness on Game Addiction-Mediating Role of Emotional Control.

In the past few decades, online games have become immensely popular among the younger generation thus leading to online game addiction. Previous researches acknowledge that mindfulness or present-focused awareness may reduce addiction. Moreover, addiction is found to have an impact on the propensity to respond to the situations in the environment in a way that is acceptable to all the people (emotional control). The present study attempts to study the influence of mindfulness and emotional control on game addiction. For this, 187 college students were selected through the Simple Random Sampling method. Personal Profile Sheet, The Online Game Addiction Scale, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) and The Emotional Control Questionnaire, with four dimensions of Rehearsal, Emotional Inhibition, Aggression Control and Benign control were used to collect the data. The study found a significant gender difference in the level of game addiction where boys being more addicted to online games than girls. Mindfulness shows a significant negative influence over Game Addiction. Among the four dimensions of emotional control, the two dimensions viz., rehearsal and benign control show mediation effect between mindfulness and game addiction. However, the mediating role of emotional inhibition and aggression control was not significantly demonstrative.

Arm Length-Does It Influence Late Response in a Nerve Conduction Study?

Introduction F wave response, a late response obtained from a motor nerve, can be influenced by various external factors like gender, temperature, height, weight, and limb length, and hence it causes variation in the measured parameters. Since very few studies have studied the impact of arm length on the F wave, this study was conducted to analyze the relation between the arm length on various parameters of F wave and hence to consider the importance of it during conduct of a nerve conduction study. Methods The study was conducted among 40 healthy individuals and 40 diabetics with neuropathy. The arm length was measured in the upper limbs in both the groups and F wave was recorded following a conventional procedure using a standardized instrument. Results This study showed that in the upper limbs of both the groups, there existed a positive correlation for certain parameters like minimum, maximum and mean latencies, persistence, FM latency and M latency, and a negative correlation for chronodispersion. Conclusion F wave parameters should be adjusted for arm length to improve the sensitivity and diagnostic ability of neurological testing.

Carbimazole-induced atypia - A mimicker of malignancy in fine-needle aspiration cytology.

A 20-year-old female presented with complaints of thyroid swelling and showed signs and symptoms of thyrotoxicosis and fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was requested by the surgeon. On examination of FNAC smear, it showed thyroid follicular cells with atypical features like bizarre giant cells, pseudo nuclear inclusions, and mitotic figure. Correlation between clinical history and cytomorphologic features was done and it was reported as atypical changes in thyroid probably due to carbimazole-induced changes. It helped the patient, as radical surgery and its untoward complications were avoided.

Allelopathic Potential of Lantana camara L. Leaf Extracts and Soils Invaded by It on the Growth Performance of Lepidium sativum L.

Lantana camara is a noxious invasive plant that invades agricultural and natural ecosystems. In the current study, phytotoxicity of hexane and ethanolic leaf extracts of L. camara in different concentrations and soils invaded by it on Lepidium sativum were investigated under laboratory conditions. Soil toxicity was evaluated by comparing the growth of L. sativum on soils sampled from Lantana-invaded and Lantana-free sites. Results showed that extract concentrations and solvent type and their interaction significantly reduced percent seed germination and seedling growth. Compared to control (distilled water), both hexane and ethanol extracts at 5% w/v concentration significantly reduced percent germination and early seedling growth and completely inhibited seed germination at 10% w/v of hexane leaf extract, suggesting that hexane extract has a greater inhibitory effect than ethanolic extract in all the parameters measured. However, growth performance and seed yield of L. sativum grown on soil invaded by Lantana did not significantly vary from those grown on soils sampled from noninvaded sites. The results of this study generally showed that though Lantana leaf extracts have a direct negative allelopathic effect on L. sativum, soils invaded by Lantana have no toxic materials in the soil to directly or indirectly inhibit the growth of L. sativum. Further field studies on allelopathic effects of Lantana on L. sativum are recommended.

Management Strategy for Chronic Recurrent Temporomandibular Joint Dislocation: A Prospective Study.

Various approach strategies have been followed for management of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dislocation. In this study, a total of 12 patients (21 TM joints) with chronic recurrent TMJ dislocations were managed surgically by articular eminectomy due to unsatisfactory outcomes of conservative management methods. An improvement in pain, range of jaw movements and maximal mouth opening was achieved in 10 patients (83.3%).

A CYTOLOGICAL AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL CORRELATIVE STUDY ON NEOPLASTIC LESIONS WITH MILAN SYSTEM FOR REPORTING SALIVARY GLAND CYTOPATHOLOGY.

BACKGROUND: Salivary gland tumors are rare. Nevertheless, the accurate preoperative diagnosis of the malignant potential of the lesion is essential for appropriate patient management. The recently published Milan system for reporting salivary gland cytology (MSRSGC) is an effort to provide better communication regarding the nature of lesions to clinicians. Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic utility of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of neoplastic salivary gland lesions and the MSRSGC applicability in risk stratification. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study of the cytological and histopathological correlation between neoplastic lesions of salivary gland lesions conducted over four years (August 2010 - September 2014) in two tertiary care hospitals. There were 66 cases of FNAC of salivary gland neoplasms. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and overall diagnostic accuracy of FNAC were analyzed. The risk of malignancy for MSRSGC was calculated. RESULTS: The overall diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were 93.94; 95.5; 99.8; 96.8, and 98.7%, respectively. By correlating the cytological diagnosis of benign neoplasm with histopathological diagnosis, the risk of malignancy was 0% and risk of neoplasm was 100%. For cases in the category suspicious of malignancy, risk of neoplasm was 100% and risk of malignancy was 85%. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated that this salivary gland cytology reporting system was useful in classifying the lesions in well-delineated categories with ease. MSRSGC system of standardized reporting is helpful for guiding clinicians in appropriate management of the patient. However, many multicenter studies with large sample sizes and long-term follow-up are needed along with wide propagation of its standardized reporting format to be adopted universally.

A Rationally Designed Bimetallic Platinum (II)-Ferrocene Antitumor Agent Induces Non-Apoptotic Cell Death and Exerts in Vivo Efficacy.

Despite phenomenal clinical success, the efficacy of platinum anticancer drugs is often compromised due to inherent and acquired drug resistant phenotypes in cancers. To circumvent this issue, we designed two heterobimetallic platinum (II)-ferrocene hybrids that display multi-pronged anticancer action. In cancer cells, our best compound, 2, platinates DNA, produces reactive oxygen species, and has nucleus, mitochondria, and endoplasmic reticulum as potential targets. The multi-modal mechanism of action of these hybrid agents lead to non-apoptotic cell death induction which enables circumventing apoptosis resistance and significant improvement in platinum cross resistance profile. Finally, in addition to describing detail mechanistic insights, we also assessed its stability in plasma and demonstrate anticancer efficacy in an in vivo A2780 xenograft model. Strikingly, compared to oxaliplatin, our compound displays better tolerability, safety profile and efficacy in vivo.

18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Postsurgical Setting in Head and Neck Cancers - A Pictorial Essay.

This pictorial essay depicts normal appearances, complications, and findings of residual and/or recurrent disease on fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F- FDG PET/CT) studies in the postsurgical setting. Reading and reporting 18F- FDG PET/CT in the postoperative scenario is demanding due to the multiple false positives seen during this period. This article which contains two parts will familiarize the readers with the normal appearance and pitfalls seen in 18F- FDG PET/CT studies during the postoperative period so as to avoid misinterpretations. This pictorial will discuss 18F- FDG PET/CT in the postoperative scenario in head and neck cancers.

Spectroscopic investigation on photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange using Fe2O3/WO3/FeWO4 nanomaterials.

In this study, iron oxide (Fe2O3), tungsten oxide (WO3) and iron-tungstate oxide (FeWO4) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by simple precipitation, acid precipitation, and hydrothermal method respectively. All the spectroscopic analysis reveals that as-synthesized NPs are crystalline with a z-average size of 342, 313 and 373 d.nm respectively. The element compositions, shape and size of the NPs were identified with the help of SEM with EDX analysis. FTIR analysis concluded that the presence of functional groups on the surface of NPs and which responsible for capping and formation of NPs. Besides, the as-synthesized NPs have been used as a photocatalyst for the degradation of Methyl Orange (MO) dye under visible irradiation. FeWO4 NPs (98%) show more effective in the degradation of MO as compared to other NPs. Moreover, the degraded MO and its by-products were used to assess their toxicity on Vigna radiata and RAW 264.7 cell line and which were confirmed that degraded by-products were non-hazardous.

Identifying and Addressing Factors Contributing to Pretreatment Loss to Follow-Up of Tuberculosis Patients Referred for Treatment from Medical Colleges in Pondicherry: An Implementation Research.

BACKGROUND: In India, there is no feedback regarding 34% of tuberculosis (TB) patients diagnosed and referred from medical colleges for treatment to peripheral health institutions (PHIs). OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to measure the effectiveness of the new intervention package, developed based on qualitative study in reducing pretreatment loss to follow-up (PTLFU) of all TB patients diagnosed and referred for treatment from medical colleges to PHIs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An intervention was developed based on the findings of in depth-interviews conducted among different stakeholders such as TB patients who did/did not report, service providers working in four medical colleges in Pondicherry. Intervention consisting of phone calls, home visits, etc., was implemented for a period of 6 months. The baseline and endline proportion of TB patients for whom feedback received was determined from the available records (Revised National TB Control Program State Task Force Quarterly reports). RESULTS: Patient's ignorance, lack of faith in healthcare system, side effects and social stigma, unpleasant experience in hospitals, poor accessibility to directly observed treatment, short-course centers, drugs shortage, poor coordination between program and hospital staff were the risk factors for PTLFU. At baseline, the proportions of feedback received about TB patients referred for treatment from medical colleges to PHIs was 46%. After the initiation of interventions, it increased to 61% and 66% in the first and second quarters of 2017, respectively. CONCLUSION: Risk factors for PTLFU were multi-factorial related to both patient and health system. Simple, feasible interventions such as phone calls and home visits to TB patients were effective in reducing PTLFU.

Development of Sn-doped ZnO based ecofriendly piezoelectric nanogenerator for energy harvesting application.

In this work, we have a demonstrated zinc oxide (ZnO) polymer-based ecofriendly piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) on a paper substrate for an energy harvesting application. The ZnO thin film is developed on the paper substrate, where different doping concentrations of Sn have been investigated systematically to validate the effect of doping towards enhancing the device performance. The piezoelectric potential of the fabricated device is evaluated by applying three different loads (4 N, 8 N, 22 N), where the source of the corresponding mechanical loads is based on the object of a musical drum stick. The results suggest that the pristine ZnO PENG device can generate a maximum output voltage and current of 2.15 V and 17 nA respectively. Moreover, the ZnO PENG device doped with 2.5% Sn achieved an even higher voltage (4.15 V) and current (36 nA) compared to pristine ZnO devices. In addition, the hydrothermal growth technique used to develop Sn-doped ZnO has the benefits of high scalability and low cost. Hence, the Sn-doped PENG device is a suitable candidate for energy harvesting applications operating in both uniform and non-uniform loading conditions.

Hydrothermal synthesis of cobalt telluride nanorods for a high performance hybrid asymmetric supercapacitor.

Cobalt telluride nanostructured materials have demonstrated various applications, particularly in energy generation and storage. A high temperature and reducing atmosphere are required for the preparation of cobalt telluride-based materials, which makes this a difficult and expensive process. The development of a facile route for producing the desirable nanostructure of cobalt telluride remains a great challenge. We demonstrated a simple hydrothermal method for preparing cobalt telluride nanorods (CoTe NRs) and telluride nanorods (Te NRs) for supercapacitor applications. The morphology of CoTe NRs and Te NRs was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The prepared CoTe NR electrode material exhibited a high specific capacity of 170 C g-1 at a current density of 0.5 A g-1 with an exceptional cyclic stability. The asymmetric supercapacitor was assembled using CoTe NRs and orange peel-derived activated carbon (OPAA-700) as a positive and negative electrode, respectively. The fabricated device delivered a high energy density of 40.7 W h kg-1 with a power density of 800 W kg-1 at 1 A g-1 current density. When the current density was increased to 30 A g-1, the fabricated device delivered a high power density of 22.5 kW kg-1 with an energy density of 16.3 W h kg-1. The fabricated asymmetric supercapacitor displayed a good cyclic stability performance for 10 000 cycles at a high current density of 30 A g-1 and retained 85% of its initial capacity for after 10 000 cycles. The prepared materials indicate their applicability for high performance energy storage devices.

An uncharacterized region within the N-terminus of mouse TMC1 precludes trafficking to plasma membrane in a heterologous cell line.

Mechanotransduction by hair cell stereocilia lies at the heart of sound detection in vertebrates. Considerable effort has been put forth to identify proteins that comprise the hair cell mechanotransduction apparatus. TMC1, a member of the transmembrane channel-like (TMC) family, was identified as a core protein of the mechanotransduction complex in hair cells. However, the inability of TMC1 to traffic through the endoplasmic reticulum in heterologous cellular systems has hindered efforts to characterize its function and fully identify its role in mechanotransduction. We developed a novel approach that allowed for the detection of uncharacterized protein regions, which preclude trafficking to the plasma membrane (PM) in heterologous cells. Tagging N-terminal fragments of TMC1 with Aquaporin 3 (AQP3) and GFP fusion reporter, which intrinsically label PM in HEK293 cells, indicated that residues at the edges of amino acid sequence 138-168 invoke intracellular localization and/or degradation. This signal is able to preclude surface localization of PM protein AQP3 in HEK293 cells. Substitutions of the residues by alanine or serine corroborated that the information determining the intracellular retention is present within amino acid sequence 138-168 of TMC1 N-terminus. This novel signal may preclude the proper trafficking of TMC1 to the PM in heterologous cells.

Use of zero-frequency resonator for automatically detecting systolic peaks of photoplethysmogram signal.

This work investigates the application of zero-frequency resonator (ZFR) for detecting systolic peaks of photoplethysmogram (PPG) signals. Based on the authors' studies, they propose an automated noise-robust method, which consists of the central difference operation, the ZFR, the mean subtraction and averaging, the peak determination, and the peak rejection/acceptance rule. The method is evaluated using different kinds of PPG signals taken from the standard MIT-BIH polysomnographic database and Complex Systems Laboratory database and the recorded PPG signals at their Biomedical System Lab. The method achieves an average sensitivity (Se) of 99.95%, positive predictivity (Pp) of 99.89%, and overall accuracy (OA) of 99.84% on a total number of 116,673 true peaks. Evaluation results further demonstrate the robustness of the ZFR-based method for noisy PPG signals with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) ranging from 30 to 5 dB. The method achieves an average Se = 99.76%, Pp = 99.84%, and OA = 99.60% for noisy PPG signals with a SNR of 5 dB. Various results show that the method yields better detection rates for both noise-free and noisy PPG signals. The method is simple and reliable as compared with the complexity of signal processing techniques and detection performance of the existing detection methods.

Growth, Hirshfeld surfaces, spectral, quantum chemical calculations, photoconductivity and chemical etching analyses of nonlinear optical p-toluidine p-toluenesulfonate single crystal.

A single crystal of p-toluidine p-toluenesulfonate (PTPT) has been grown by slow evaporation solution technique (SEST) at room temperature. Single crystal X-ray analysis confirms that grown crystal belongs to the monoclinic structure with space group P21. Intermolecular interactions and fingerprint plots of PTPT molecules are executed by Hirshfeld surface analysis. It was found that H···H (44.2%) contacts have maximum intermolecular interactions contributions in the total Hirshfeld surface area. The characteristic absorption band occurs at below 290 nm. The functional groups were identified using FTIR and FT-Raman analyses and compared with theoretical values. The title molecule contains fourteen CH bonds and three OH bonds. The calculated HOMO and LUMO energy values are -6.125 eV and -1.157 eV, respectively. The chemical potential (µ) and electronegativity (χ) values are estimated to be -3.4938 eV and 3.4938 eV, respectively. The strongest negative hyperconjugation occurs due to the charge transfer from the occupied orbital (σ) to the unoccupied orbital (π*) which is calculated for the σ(N20-C21) → π*(N20-O18). The green and red lines in the total density of states (TDOS) spectrum indicate the occupied orbital and virtual orbital levels, respectively. Photoconductivity studies have been done for the grown crystal. It is observed that the dark current is greater than photocurrent. It shows negative photoconductivity nature of PTPT crystal. The etching analysis was executed on (001) plane of PTPT crystal. It has rectangular shape etch pits patterns.

Mechanical loading characteristics of total hip prosthetics subjected to dynamic loading cycles.

The selection of best material pair in the hip prosthetics design for improved performance and life relies on the estimation of hip joint contact stresses and contact pressure distribution during various dynamic loading cycles: Climbing Upstairs, Climbing downstairs and Knee bending. The maximum Von Mises stress, contact pressure and deformation are considered factors in selecting the material pair in this current study. This is done by analysis of a three-dimensional finite element model of the acetabular component during the different dynamics cycles using ANSYS®. The different material combination of bearing couples considered for this analysis are metal in contact with plastic, metal on metal, metal on ceramic, ceramic on plastic, ceramic on metal and ceramic on ceramic. The numerical results were validated by comparing them with the FEA results of Hai-Bo Jiang et al. for the existing material combinations and a high correlation of 92% was observed. We found that the Alumina femoral head paired with ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) cup reduces the maximum Von Mises stress and maximum contact pressure developed at the interface amongst other material pairs.

A Review of Signal Processing Techniques for Electrocardiogram Signal Quality Assessment.

Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal quality assessment (SQA) plays a vital role in significantly improving the diagnostic accuracy and reliability of unsupervised ECG analysis systems. In practice, the ECG signal is often corrupted with different kinds of noises and artifacts. Therefore, numerous SQA methods were presented based on the ECG signal and/or noise features and the machine learning classifiers and/or heuristic decision rules. This paper presents an overview of current state-of-the-art SQA methods and highlights the practical limitations of the existing SQA methods. Based upon past and our studies, it is noticed that a lightweight ECG noise analysis framework is highly demanded for real-time detection, localization, and classification of single and combined ECG noises within the context of wearable ECG monitoring devices which are often resource constrained.