Rapamycin (Sirolimus, Rapamune), a potent immunosuppressive agent, has been demonstrated to have remarkable activity in inhibiting allograft rejection in animal models of transplantation. It is ...currently in phase II clinical trials. Rapamycin belongs to the class of macrocyclic immunosuppressive drugs that are bioactive only when bound to immunophilins. Cyclosporin A and FK506, two other members of this class, selectively block the transcriptional activation of several cytokine genes, thereby inhibiting cytokine production. Although rapamycin and its structural analog FK506 bind to the same immunophilin (FKBP), rapamycin acts at a later stage in T-cell cycle progression by blocking cytokine-mediated signal transduction pathways. This inhibition is the consequence of modulation of activity of a target protein by the rapamycin: FKBP complex sirolimus effector protein (SEP). Although the identification of SEP has recently been reported, its function in cell-cycle progression is not known. The biochemical events that rapamycin has been shown to inhibit are (a) activation of p70S6 kinase, (b) activation of cdk2/cyclin E complex, (c) phosphorylation of retinoblastoma protein, and (d) suppression of cdc2 and cyclin A transcription.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major public health problem in India. Although several International guidelines for diagnosis and management of COPD are available, yet there are lot ...of gaps in recognition and management of COPD in India due to vast differences in availability and affordability of healthcare facilities across the country. The Indian Chest Society (ICS) and the National College of Chest Physicians (NCCP) of India have joined hands to come out with these evidence-based guidelines to help the physicians at all levels of healthcare to diagnose and manage COPD in a scientific manner. Besides the International literature, the Indian studies were specifically analyzed to arrive at simple and practical recommendations. The evidence is presented under these five headings: (a) definitions, epidemiology, and disease burden; (b) disease assessment and diagnosis; (c) pharmacologic management of stable COPD; (d) management of acute exacerbations; and (e) nonpharmacologic and preventive measures. The modified grade system was used for classifying the quality of evidence as 1, 2, 3, or usual practice point (UPP). The strength of recommendation was graded as A or B depending upon the level of evidence.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
A review on metallic micro lattice Singh, Jagjit; Upadhyay, Aman; Sehgal, SS
Materials today : proceedings,
01/2020, Volume:
33
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Metallic Micro lattice is a very new material that combines different material properties and with different geometrical orientations can achieve better stiffness, strength and good energy absorbing ...capacity. It is the lightest material ever made. In this paper, an overview of manufacturing, geometrical, mechanical properties and applications are presented. Metallic micro lattice can be produced using different processes and it affects their mechanical properties. An overview of different manufacturing processes is presented in this paper. Further, a study on geometrical and structural properties of these structures has been done. Metallic micro lattice are composed of micro struts. These struts are arranged in different geometrical orientations like honeycomb, folded and foam. On the basis of stress behavior, there are Bending Dominated Structures and Stress Dominated Structures found in open-cell and closed-cell respectively. They have a very good energy absorbing capacity. It was found that in comparison to stretch dominated structures, bending dominated structures had a very low stiffness and low failure strength. Study on energy absorption and damping performance showed that micro lattice has greater efficiency in terms of energy absorption and damping in terms of any other metallic materials available. Further, the thermal expansion study showed that the lattice material undergoes zero or negative thermal expansion. Further, different applications of micro lattice has also been presented.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) is a complex allergic disorder caused by immune reactions against Aspergillus fumigatus. ABPA most commonly complicates the course of patients with ...poorly controlled asthma. Patients commonly present with uncontrolled asthma, fleeting pulmonary opacities, and bronchiectasis. Pathogenetically, ABPA is characterized by the persistence of A. fumigatus in the airways and an exaggerated type-2 immune response. The interest in ABPA stems from the fact that bronchiectasis in ABPA can be prevented if the disorder is diagnosed timely and treated appropriately. Herein, we summarize the current concepts in the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of ABPA.
Pools of salt water and puddles created by giant waves from the sea due to the tsunami that occurred on 26th December 2004 would facilitate increased breeding of brackish water malaria vector, ...Anopheles sundaicus. Land uplifts in North Andaman and subsidence in South Andaman have been reported and subsidence may lead to environmental disturbances and vector proliferation. This warrants a situation analysis and vector surveillance in the tsunami hit areas endemic for malaria transmitted by brackish water mosquito, An. sundaicus to predict the risk of outbreak.
An extensive survey was carried out in the tsunami-affected areas in Andaman district of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India to assess the extent of breeding of malaria vectors in the habitats created by seawater flooding. Types of habitats in relation to source of seawater inundation and frequency were identified. The salinity of the water samples and the mosquito species present in the larval samples collected from these habitats were recorded. The malaria situation in the area was also analysed.
South Andaman, covering Port Blair and Ferrargunj sub districts, is still under the recurring phenomenon of seawater intrusion either directly from the sea or through a network of creeks. Both daily cycles of high tides and periodical spring tides continue to cause flooding. Low-lying paddy fields and fallow land, with a salinity ranging from 3,000 to 42,505 ppm, were found to support profuse breeding of An. sundaicus, the local malaria vector, and Anopheles subpictus, a vector implicated elsewhere. This area is endemic for both vivax and falciparum malaria. Malaria slide positivity rate has started increasing during post-tsunami period, which can be considered as an indication of risk of malaria outbreak.
Paddy fields and fallow land with freshwater, hitherto not considered as potential sites for An. sundaicus, are now major breeding sites due to saline water. Consequently, there is a risk of vector abundance with enhanced malaria transmission potential, due to the vastness of these tsunami-created breeding grounds and likelihood of them becoming permanent due to continued flooding in view of land subsidence. The close proximity of the houses and paucity of cattle may lead to a higher degree of man/vector contact causing a threat of malaria outbreak in this densely populated area. Measures to prevent the possible outbreak of malaria in this tsunami-affected area are discussed.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Aluminium alloy is one of the widely used lightweight materials and is utilized in the production of a wide variety of components. The AA8026 properties enhancements through optimizing the ...synthesizing parameters through the Taguchi route is the aim of this investigation. Thereby establishing control over the stir casting process to alter the wear and microhardness of AA8026 aluminium alloy by hybrid reinforcement. There were 16 samples of AA8026 + Zr2O3/TiO2 composite prepared as per Taguchi L16 orthogonal array. The process parameters varied four levels such as stirring time from 15 min to 30 min, quantity of reinforcement from 3 wt% to 12 wt%, molten temperature from 750 °C to 900 °C, and stirring speed from 450 rpm to 600 rpm. The fabricated samples are investigated for microhardness and wear properties. From the analysis, it is inferred that stirring speed is highly influenced by wear and microhardness properties. The results exemplify that 0.086 mm3/m was minimum wear and 180.2 HV was maximum microhardness achieved.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Multiple Coulomb Scattering (MCS) based muon tomography technique has been considered to be a well-known tool to identify, discriminate, and to image the high-density objects placed inside closed ...volumes. The two most famous reconstruction algorithms are Point of Closest Approach (PoCA) and Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization (MLEM). PoCA is fast but purely geometrical and as a result of this, it gives a lot of false positives, i.e. sometimes the PoCA point lies outside the target object and hence it forms an envelope of false-positive which results in a smeared image. On the other hand, MLEM is an iterative algorithm and is much more computation-intensive. In this work a new and innovative method is proposed which is based on the concept of voxelization to handle the known problem of false positives of the PoCA algorithm, and hence provide a clear reconstructed image. These algorithms remove the false positives PoCA points from the 3D point cloud and will give useful information in terms of regions or voxels within a voxelized volume 'V' to do a clear image reconstruction. The advantages of the proposed algorithm to the existing algorithms are also discussed. The status of the experimental setup of the proposed facility using Resistive Plate Chamber(RPC) with spatial resolution of ∼ 1cm as muon detector, is also discussed. The preliminary data from the current experimental setup, showing detector performance and cosmic muon tracks are also shown. Since the experimental setup is not fully ready, the effectiveness of the developed algorithms and the results are evaluated using the data from the Geant4 simulation of the muon tomography setup.
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