430 research outputs found
Silencing of prophenoloxidase (proPO) gene in freshwater prawn, <i>Macrobrachium rosenbergii</i>, makes them susceptible to white spot syndrome virus (WSSV)
No full textProphenoloxidase (proPO) is very important to protect the invertebrates from microbial infections. Our previous studies revealed that proPO was up-regulated in WSSV-injected Macrobrachium rosenbergii and is responsible for protecting M. rosenbergii from WSSV. In order to prove this mechanism, an attempt was made in the present study to silence the proPO gene in freshwater prawn by injection of dsRNA-proPO followed by WSSV challenge. Two partial fragments of proPO with the size of 251 and 331 bp were used to synthesize dsRNA using LITMUS38i vector and E. coli. The bacterially synthesized dsRNA-proPO was used to silence proPO gene to determine its involvement in developing resistance in prawn against WSSV. In proPO gene-silenced prawn, 100% mortality was observed after WSSV challenge whereas no mortality was observed in prawn injected with WSSV alone. The WSSV infection in gene-silenced prawn was confirmed by PCR, and its propagation was quantified by ELISA and real-time PCR at different time intervals. Real-time PCR assay revealed a significant reduction in the expression of proPO gene in WSSV-challenged proPO-silenced prawn when compared to normal prawn. Level of proPO was reduced significantly in the haemolymph of proPO-silenced prawn when compared to prawn injected with PBS.</p
Effect of temperature on NH3 sensing by ZnO: Mg thin film grown by radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique
No full textSurface area‐enhanced cerium and sulfur‐modified hierarchical bismuth oxide nanosheets for electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction to formate.
No full textElectrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (ECO2RR) is a promising approach to synthesize fuels and value-added chemical feedstocks while reducing atmospheric CO2 levels. Here, high surface area cerium and sulfur-doped hierarchical bismuth oxide nanosheets (Ce@S-Bi2O3) are develpoed by a solvothermal method. The resulting Ce@S-Bi2O3 electrocatalyst shows a maximum formate Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 92.5% and a current density of 42.09 mA cm−2 at −1.16 V versus RHE using a traditional H-cell system. Furthermore, using a three-chamber gas diffusion electrode (GDE) reactor, a maximum formate FE of 85% is achieved in a wide range of applied potentials (−0.86 to −1.36 V vs RHE) using Ce@S-Bi2O3. The density functional theory (DFT) results show that doping of Ce and S in Bi2O3 enhances formate production by weakening the OH* and H* species. Moreover, DFT calculations reveal that *OCHO is a dominant pathway on Ce@S-Bi2O3 that leads to efficient formate production. This study opens up new avenues for designing metal and element-doped electrocatalysts to improve the catalytic activity and selectivity for ECO2RR
Evaluation of liver stiffness on elastography ultrasound
No full textIntroduction: Liver stiffness (LS) assessed by Ultrasound elastography can safely replace liver biopsy in several clinical scenarios, particularly in patients with chronic viral hepatitis. However, an increase of LS may be due to some other clinical conditions not related to fibrosis, such as liver inflammation, acute hepatitis, obstructive cholestasis, liver congestion, infiltrative liver diseases.Material and Methods: This is a prospective, observational study that was conducted in patients with impaired hepatic enzymes. Study conducted at Tertiary care teaching hospital over a period of 1 year. Inclusion criteria: Patients of either gender between age group 30 to 60 years. Elevated liver enzymes.Exclusion criteria: Biopsy samples smaller than 15 mm. Hepatic transplant patients in last 6 months. Coagulation disorders and risk of bleeding following biopsy. Patients with biopsy results did not meet the required quality criteria.Result: In our study, maximum number of patients were male 62 (68.8%) and least were female 28 (31.2%) in our study. The METAVIR fibrosis grades were as follows: F0-F1 = 43 (47.7%); F2 = 20 (22.2%); F3 = 13 (14.4%); F4.1 = 9 (10%); F4.2 = 5 (5.5%). In our study 27 patients experienced one or more Liver-related events; the first Liver-related events were: 23 hepatic decompensations (4 variceal bleeding, 4 ascites, 6 Hepatic encephalopathy, 5 Jaundice, 2 Hepatorenalsyndrome and 2 Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis), 2 hepatocellular carcinomas. Conclusion: Liver stiffness by Elastography accurately predicts the risk of death or hepatic complications in patients with chronic liver disease. TE may facilitate the estimation of prognosis and guide management of these patients
Assess the effect of low level laser therapy on sensitivity of teeth prepared for fixed partial denture: A Randomized Control Trial
No full textAIM OF THE STUDY:
The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of low level laser therapy on sensitivity of teeth prepared for fixed partial denture.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Thirty patients from the Department of Prosthodontics Adhiparasakthi Dental College and Hospital, Melmaruvathur, Tamilnadu, who required conventional fixed partial denture were selected in random for the study purpose. Out of either of the abutments, one was selected using Block Randomization method and put in the test group. The other abutment was put in the Control group. So of the 60 abutments, 30 were control group, and 30 were in the test group. Tooth preparation was done by conventional method. After tooth preparation sensitivity of both the abutment teeth was recorded using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Then low level laser therapy was applied to test group abutment and placebo therapy was applied to control group. After laser therapy again sensitivity of both the abutment teeth was recorded using visual analogue scale (VAS).
RESULT:
The test group showed a significant reduction in sensitivity. There was only a slight reduction in sensitivity over the 7 days of treatment. But in the intraday, before and after treatment with LLT, there was a significant reduction in sensitivity of the teeth.
CONCLUSION:
According to results of this study Low level laser therapy is effective in treatment of sensitivity teeth prepared for fixed partial denture
Design and In-Vitro Evaluation of Simvastatin Ethosomal Gel
No full textIt is well known that if drug molecules presenting any difficulties in its solubility and bioavailability along the GI tract, are candidates for other routes of administration and if the site of action for drug candidate is subdermal, an effective penetration enhancers are required to provide the drug molecule deeper into skin tissue for optimized therapeutic delivery of drug. It is generally agreed that classic liposomes are of little or no value as carriers for transdermal drug delivery because they do not penetrate the skin.
Recently derived ethosomal system can deliver drug molecules into and through the skin. An attempt was made to formulate the highly efficient ethosomal drug delivery system using Simvastatin as model drug.
The following conclusion are drawn from the result and discussion described in the previous chapter .The method described by Touitou et al., (2000) was employed with little modification for the preparation of various ethosomal formulations containing different concentration of ethanol (20% to 50%) with sonication . The techniques used were simple and reproducible. The prepared ethosomes were spherical and discrete in shape.
However ethosomes prepared by sonication method were more uniform and small in size which is essential for skin penetration. While comparing the entrapment efficiency, ethosomes containing 20% w/w ethanol (SF2 formulation) and prepared by sonication showed highest value respect to all other formulation; so it is concluded ethosomal prepared by sonication and containing 20% w/w ethanol (SF2) as the best formulation considering all other aspects.
Stability studies carried out for a period of 8 weeks showed no changes in the characteristics of ethosomes and further the loss of drug is not more than 4%. When effect of sonication was compared on ethosomal formulation, sonicated formulation possessed better or suitable characteristics (smaller size, uniform size, distribution, highest entrapment efficiency and higher transdermal flux).
From the above observations it can be concluded sonication is an essential tool for the preparation of ethosomes.
Thus, the specific objectives listed in the introduction chapter of this thesis were achieved namely design, characterization and release studies of Simvastatin ethosomes. Certainly these finding can be applied for transdermal drug delivery of Simvastatin. Further these findings may help the industry for development and scaling up a new formulation
Exploration of alginate hydrogel/nano zinc oxide composite bandages for infected wounds
No full textAnnapoorna Mohandas,* Sudheesh Kumar PT,* Biswas Raja, Vinoth-Kumar Lakshmanan, Rangasamy Jayakumar Amrita Centre for Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, India *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: Alginate hydrogel/zinc oxide nanoparticles (nZnO) composite bandage was developed by freeze-dry method from the mixture of nZnO and alginate hydrogel. The developed composite bandage was porous with porosity at a range of 60%–70%. The swelling ratios of the bandages decreased with increasing concentrations of nZnO. The composite bandages with nZnO incorporation showed controlled degradation profile and faster blood clotting ability when compared to the KALTOSTAT® and control bandages without nZnO. The prepared composite bandages exhibited excellent antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, and methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Cytocompatibility evaluation of the prepared composite bandages done on human dermal fibroblast cells by Alamar assay and infiltration studies proved that the bandages have a non-toxic nature at lower concentrations of nZnO whereas slight reduction in viability was seen with increasing nZnO concentrations. The qualitative analysis of ex-vivo re-epithelialization on porcine skin revealed keratinocyte infiltration toward wound area for nZnO alginate bandages. Keywords: alginate, hydrogel, ZnO nanoparticle, hemostatic, antimicrobial activity, wound healin
Study of Heat Affected Zone of a Weld in 9Cr-1.8W-0.5Mo Steel for Power Plant Application
No full textM.Tech. (Metallurgical and Materials Engineering)Continuous improvement in steam parameters for achieving higher efficiencies led to the
development of many new creep resistant steels in thermal power plant industry. As welding
is the major fabrication technique used in power plant construction, these creep resistant steel
should possess good weldability and in-service life condition.
This thesis contains a presentation of basic problems appears in service at Heat Affected
Zones (HAZs) of membrane panels and high temperature pipe lines made of tempered
bainitic/martensitic creep resistant 9Cr-1.8W-0.5Mo (Grade 92) steel used for boilers
operating at supercritical parameters. The HAZs of these components often experience
Type-IV creep crack due to micro-coalescence of creep voids at operating temperature.
Welding thermal cycles had been simulated with Finite Element Simulation using
SYSWELD and with these thermal cycles physically HAZs had been simulated and studied
for its microstructure, hardness and toughness in-situ comparison with real time HAZ during
welding. The experimental results will be used to study the creep failure to develop a further
modification in the parent metal, which can serve as a bench mark for the future development
of creep strength enhanced steel
Free-space optical channel performance under atmospheric losses using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
No full textFree space optics (FSO) is a fast-growing technology that outperforms fiber optics in communication network infrastructure without spectrum licensing. The goal of this work is to evaluate the performance of the FSO communication system using direct detection 4-quadrature amplitude modulation (4-QAM) and 4-phase shift keying (4-PSK) with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) scheme. Simulating a direct detection OFDM-FSO system and comparing constellation diagrams, electrical power, and optical power have been used to conduct the analysis. The model is validated using a constellation diagram of received signals for various FSO channel ranges and weather conditions. According to simulation results, the OFDM-FSO architecture combined with the 4-QAM modulation technique produces the most efficient output with the least amount of power consumption for data rates up to 10 Gb/s and FSO channel ranges of up to 3 km for clear air, 1.7 km, and 1.3 km for thin and thick fog, and 0.7 km for heavy fog. This investigation can enhance the current fiber optic network's structure connected with the FSO system to provide last-mile connectivity in 5G modules
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