Heat transfer study and optimization of nanofluid triangular cavity with a pentagonal barrier by finite element approach and RSM.

Nowadays, several engineering applications and academic investigations have demonstrated the significance of heat transfers in general and mixed convection heat transfer (MCHT) in particular in cavities containing obstacles. This study's main goal is to analyze the MCHT of a nanofluid in a triangular cavity with a pentagonal barrier using magneto hydrodynamics (MHD). The cavity's-oriented walls are continuous cold temperature, whereas the bottom wall of the triangle and all pentagonal obstacle walls are kept at a constant high temperature. For solving governing equations, we utilized the Galerkin's finite element approach. Four dimensionless factors, Richardson number (0.01 ≤ Ri ≤ 5), Reynolds number (10 ≤ Re ≤ 50), Buoyancy ratio (0.01 ≤ Br ≤ 10) and Hartmann number (0 ≤ Ha ≤20) are examined for their effects on streamlines, isotherms, concentration, velocity, and the Nusselt number. Also, with the help of Taguchi method and Response Surface Method (RSM) the optimization of the studied dimensionless parameters has been done. The optimum values of Ri, Re, Ha and Br are obtained 4.95, 30.49,18.35 and 0.05 respectively. Ultimately, a correlation has been extracted for obtaining the optimum average Nusselt number (Nu) in mentioned cavity.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Pregnant Women regarding Oral Health Status and Treatment Needs following Oral Health Education in Pune District of Maharashtra: A Longitudinal Hospital-based Study.

INTRODUCTION: Pregnancy is a natural process that may create some changes in different parts of the body including the oral cavity. These changes will lead to oral diseases if enough and timely care of oral cavity is not taken. Women may experience increased gingivitis or pregnancy gingivitis beginning in the second or third month of pregnancy that increases in severity throughout the duration of pregnancy. To motivate the patient toward oral health and implement the needed prophylactic measures, a longitudinal study was planned to observe the effect of oral health education during pregnancy on knowledge, attitude, practice, oral health status, and treatment needs (TNs) of pregnant women belonging to different socioeconomic groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A longitudinal study was conducted among 112 pregnant women belonging to different socioeconomic groups to assess the effect of oral health education on knowledge, attitude, practice, oral health status, and TNs. The demographic details, knowledge, attitude, and practice of pregnant women, and oral health status were collected through a predesigned questionnaire by a principal investigator through an interview. Oral health examination was carried out to assess oral health status using revised World Health Organization Proforma 1997, and oral health education was given through PowerPoint presentation to the participants in local language, i.e., Marathi, after collecting the baseline data. Reinforcement of oral health education and blanket referral was done at 14th week, and follow-up data were collected at 28th week of gestation. The demographic details, such as age, sex, education, occupation, income, and the questions based on knowledge, attitude, and practice among participants were analyzed using number, percentage, and mean. RESULTS: At baseline, knowledge was limited, attitude was positive, while the practice was poor regarding oral health care during pregnancy in pregnant women belonging to different socioeconomic groups. After oral health education and blanket referral, at 28th week of gestation, knowledge regarding oral health care improved drastically, attitude toward oral health became more positive, whereas practice did not change much among all the pregnant women belonging to different socioeconomic groups, probably indicating sociocultural influences. CONCLUSION: Intensive oral health education during pregnancy leads to drastic improvement in knowledge and attitude. Practice, gingival health, and the number of filled teeth also improved to some extent. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Regular oral health education programs should be conducted at community level among pregnant woman to reduce the burden of oral diseases.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Women in Slums of Pimpri, Chinchwad, Pune, Maharashtra, India, regarding Usage of Mishri.

INTRODUCTION: Mishri is one of the form of smokeless tobacco, which is a roasted, powdered preparation made by baking tobacco on a hot metal plate until it is uniformly black, after which it is powdered. It is noted that mishri use is more commonly used by the women of low socioeconomic status, hence the need was felt to conduct this study among women mishri users of slums. Also, the consequences of mishri use are little known, hence an effort is made to find out its ill-effect on oral health. OBJECTIVE: To assess knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) among women using mishri regarding its effects on their oral and general health. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 6-month KAP study was conducted among 100 women who were using mishri. Snowball sampling was used. Oral examination of the participants was also done for oral potentially malignant disorders, such as leukoplakia, erythroplakia, oral submucous fibrosis, and hyperkeratinized pouch. RESULTS: About 61% of the population used mishri for cleaning the teeth and others used it as quid; 0.85% of the total participants knew that the use of mishri may lead to precancerous lesions/conditions. Only 17% knew that mishri use can cause gum disease; 84% of the population was willing to quit the habit of using mishri. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that all the participants had poor knowledge. Attitude toward quitting mishri use was found to be good. About 4% of the participants reported about quitting the habit. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: There is need to create awareness regarding harmful effects of mishri usage in this particular area to improve oral health status.

A novel method for flow pattern identification in unstable operational conditions using gamma ray and radial basis function.

Changes of fluid properties (especially density) strongly affect the performance of radiation-based multiphase flow meter and could cause error in recognizing the flow pattern and determining void fraction. In this work, we proposed a methodology based on combination of multi-beam gamma ray attenuation and dual modality densitometry techniques using RBF neural network in order to recognize the flow regime and determine the void fraction in gas-liquid two phase flows independent of the liquid phase changes. The proposed system is consisted of one 137Cs source, two transmission detectors and one scattering detector. The registered counts in two transmission detectors were used as the inputs of one primary Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural network for recognizing the flow regime independent of liquid phase density. Then, after flow regime identification, three RBF neural networks were utilized for determining the void fraction independent of liquid phase density. Registered count in scattering detector and first transmission detector were used as the inputs of these three RBF neural networks. Using this simple methodology, all the flow patterns were correctly recognized and the void fraction was predicted independent of liquid phase density with mean relative error (MRE) of less than 3.28%.

Bismuth(III) ß-thioxoketonates as antibiotics against Helicobacter pylori and as anti-leishmanial agents.

Nine different ß-thioxoketones of general formula R(1)C(=O)CH2C(=S)R(2) (R(1) = C6H5, R(2) = C6H5L1; R(1) = C6H5, R(2) = p-CF3C6H4L2; R(1) = p-MeOC6H4, R(2) = C6H5L3; R(1) = p-MeOC6H4, R(2) = p-CF3C6H4L4; R(1) = C5H4N, R(2) = C6H5L5; R(1) = p-IC6H4, R(2) = C6H5L6; R(1) = C6H5, R(2) = p-IC6H4L7; R(1) = C6H5, R(2) = C10H7L8 and R(1) = CH3, R(2) = C6H5L9) and their tris-substituted bismuth(III) complexes having the general formula [Bi{R(1)C(=O)CHC(=S)R(2)}3] were synthesised and fully characterised. The solid state structure of [Bi{C5H4NC(=O)CHC(=S)C6H5}3] B5 was determined by crystallography and revealed that the three ß-thioxoketonato ligands are bound to bismuth(III) centre in a bidentate fashion through O and S atoms. The bismuth(III) complexes and the corresponding thioxoketones were assessed for their activity against H. pylori. All of the bismuth(III) complexes were highly active against H. pylori having a MIC of greater than or equal to 3.125 µg mL(-1), while the free acids were essentially not toxic to the bacteria. The anti-leishmanial activity of all the bismuth(III) ß-thioxoketonates and the corresponding free acids were assessed against L. major promastigotes. The toxicity towards human fibroblast cells was also assessed. All of the free ß-thioxoketones were selectively toxic to the L. major promastigotes displaying some potential as anti-leishmanial agents. Among these [C6H5C(=O)CH2C(=S)C6H5] L1 and [C5H4NC(=O)CH2C(=S)C6H5] L5 showed comparable activity to that of Amphotericin B, killing about 80% of the L. major promastigotes at a concentration of 25 µM (6.0 µg mL(-1)). The bismuth(III) ß-thioxoketonate complexes were toxic to both the L. major promastigotes and fibroblast cells at high concentrations, but gave no improvement in anti-leishmanial activity over the free ß-thioxoketones.

Capsular serotype and antibiotic resistance of group B streptococci isolated from pregnant women in Ardabil, Iran.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Group B Streptococci (GBS) is a major cause of neonatal and maternal infections. The aim of this study was to determine the serotype distribution and antibiotic resistance profile of GBS strains isolated from pregnant women in Ardabil. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Antibiotic resistance of 56 GBS isolates was investigated using E-test strips and disk-diffusion method. Serotyping was performed using capsular antiserum. RESULTS: The results of MIC tests showed all isolates were susceptible to ampicillin, vancomycin and penicillin. One isolate (1.7%) showed reduced susceptibility pattern to penicillin (MIC; 0.25 µg/ml). There were 3 (5.3%) isolates semi-sensitive (0.25-1 µg/ml) to erythromycin (2; 0.5 µg/ml and 1; 0.38 µg/ml) and 2 (3.5%) isolates to clindamycin (1; 0.5 µg/ml, 1; 0.38 µg/ml). Additionally, 2 (3.5%) isolates were resistant to clindamycin (1; 16 µg/ml, 1; 2 µg/ml). According to the disk diffusion test, 47 (83.9%), 8 (14.2%) and 7 (12.5%) isolates were resistant to Co-trimoxazole, ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone respectively. Serotypes V (19.6%), II (12.5%) and IV (12.5%) were the most frequent followed by serotypes III (10.7%) and VI (10.7%), Ib (8.9%), Ia (7/1%), VII (5/3%) and VIII (5/3%); 7.1% of strains were nontypeable. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, most isolates were sensitive to common antibiotics, but increased resistance to other antibiotics indicates the importance of monitoring of antibiotic resistance in group B streptococci over time.

Conformational aspects of HIV-1 integrase inhibition by a peptide derived from the enzyme central domain and by antibodies raised against this peptide.

Monospecific antibodies were raised against a synthetic peptide K159 (SQGVVESMNKELKKIIGQVRDQAEHLKTA) reproducing the segment 147-175 of HIV-1 integrase (IN). Synthesis of substituted and truncated analogs of K159 led us to identify the functional epitope reacting with antibodies within the C-terminal portion 163-175 of K159. Conformational studies combining secondary structure predictions, CD and NMR spectroscopy together with ELISA assays, showed that the greater is the propensity of the epitope for helix formation the higher is the recognition by anti-K159. Both the antibodies and the antigenic peptide K159 exhibited inhibitory activities against IN. In contrast, neither P159, a Pro-containing analog of K159 that presents a kink around proline but with intact epitope conformation, nor the truncated analogs encompassing the epitope, were inhibitors of IN. While the activity of antibodies is restricted to recognition of the sole epitope portion, that of the antigenic K159 likely requires interactions of the peptide with the whole 147-175 segment in the protein [Sourgen F., Maroun, R.G., Frère, V., Bouziane, A., Auclair, C., Troalen, F. & Fermandjian, S. (1996) Eur. J. Biochem. 240, 765-773]. Actually, of all tested peptides only K159 was found to fulfill condition of minimal number of helical heptads to achieve the formation of a stable coiled-coil structure with the IN 147-175 segment. The binding of antibodies and of the antigenic peptide to this segment of IN hampers the binding of IN to its DNA substrates in filter-binding assays. This appears to be the main effect leading to inhibition of integration. Quantitative analysis of filter-binding assay curves indicates that two antibody molecules react with IN implying that the enzyme is dimeric within these experimental conditions. Together, present data provide an insight into the structure-function relationship for the 147-175 peptide domain of the enzyme. They also strongly suggest that the functional enzyme is dimeric. Results could help to assess models for binding of peptide fragments to IN and to develop stronger inhibitors. Moreover, K159 antibodies when expressed in vivo might exhibit useful inhibitory properties.

Signal standardization of the secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) microscope for quantification of halogens and calcium in biological applications.

The secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) microscope is able to map chemical elements in tissue sections. Although absolute quantification of an element remains difficult, a relative quantitative approach is possible for soft tissue by using carbon (12C) as an internal reference present at large homogeneous and constant concentration in specimen and embedding resin. In this study, this approach is used to standardize the signal of an SIMS microscope for the quantification of halogens (9F-, 35Cl- and 79Br-) and calcium (40Ca+). Standard preparation was determined based on homogeneity and stability criteria by molecular incorporation (halogens) or mixing (calcium) in methacrylate resin. Standard measurements were performed by depth analysis on areas of 8 microns (halogens) and 150 microns (calcium) in diameter for 10-30 min, under Cs+ (halogens) or Ox+ (calcium) bombardment. Results obtained from 100-120 measurements for each standard dilution show that the relationship between the signal intensity measured and the elemental concentration (micrograms/mg of wet tissue or mM) is linear in the range of biological concentrations. This quantitative approach was applied firstly to bromine of the 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) used as nuclear marker of rat hepatocytes in proliferation. The second model concerns depletion of calcium concentration in cortical compartment in Paramecium tetraurelia during exocytosis. Then signal standardization in SIMS microscopy allows us to correlate quantitative results with those obtained from other methods.