In this study, zinc sulphide nanoparticles (ZnS NPs) have been synthesized by green synthesis approach. These ZnS NPs were used as nanofiller to fabricate polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) based nanocomposite ...films via solution casting method. The PVA/ZnS nanocomposite films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The results from these characterization techniques evidenced the improvement in structural, morphological and thermal properties of PVA/ZnS nanocomposite films and also confirmed the incorporation of ZnS NPs in the PVA matrix. In addition to that, the dielectric properties of the PVA/ZnS nanocomposite films were investigated for different frequencies (50 Hz–1 MHz) and temperatures (40–140 °C) using an impedance analyzer. The values of dielectric constant and dielectric loss of PVA/ZnS nanocomposite films were observed to be 328.93 (50 Hz, 140 °C) and 6.02 (50 Hz, 140 °C) with 3 wt% ZnS NPs content. This enhancement in dielectric properties demonstrated the good interaction between ZnS NPs and PVA matrix. The aforementioned results evidenced that the ZnS NPs were homogeneously distributed within the PVA matrix.
The North Sea, with a coast length of 1590 km, is amongst the most active commercial shipping route in the world, and is subject to harsh environmental conditions throughout the year. Coastal ...protecting measures defend waterways around the North Sea coast against storms, rising sea levels, and corrosion. Quay walls, one of the most widely used coastal protection system, have been one of the fundamental building blocks of the economic system. They are designed to enable ship moorings and absorb impacts from vessels. Further, quay walls are used to allow shipment of goods to the vessels using heavy equipment. They must withstand varying water levels, environmental conditions, loads being carried in and out of the ports. Periodic asset maintenance of quay walls is therefore crucial to ensure uninterrupted services and minimum downtimes, and to prevent catastrophic damages and loss of lives.Quay walls are subject to numerous structural damages including interlock damage, scouring, impact damage, and corrosion of concrete, reinforcement, and steel components. Continuous inspection programs are required to timely maintain, and repair associated infrastructure. Conventionally, the underwater sections of the quay wall are inspected by professional divers carrying underwater cameras and sensors to perform visual and ultrasonic thickness measurement. However, diver-based methodologies are often restricted by limited operational durations, depths, and safety risks. Further, the waterways connected to the North Sea are subjected to numerous challenges including as dense marine growth, dynamic variations in water visibility, underwater currents or flow, and operation in confined spaces. To overcome these challenges and inherent risks associated with manned underwater operations, an alternative inspection approach using remotely operated robotic vehicles (ROV) indigenously developed by Planys BV is proposed in this paper. ROVs have several key advantages in comparison to the conventional-manned operations including unlimited endurance, and depth of operation, live video streaming, improved data quality, and defect geotagging to improve result repeatability.These ROVs are controlled remotely from a safe location by a pilot. They are also compact and lightweight, deployable by a crew of two personnel. They carry underwater cameras and lights for live visual inspection, sonic and ultrasonic transducers for sonar surveys and ultrasonic thickness measurement, respectively. This paper presents a case study of inspecting sheet pile infrastructure using ROVs in waterways connecting the North Sea in Western Europe. Key details explaining the components of the ROV, and methodology of operation are discussed. Exemplary results from visual inspection and ultrasonic thickness measurement are depicted, showing satisfactory quality of data collected. Furthermore, details of data analysis and representation implementing state-of-the-art digital analysis dashboard to enable rapid and accurate interpretation, are presented.Key limitations of using freely swimming ROVs are described from the viewpoint of operational efficiencies and rate of inspection. Recommendations on development of next generation of robotic crawler devices for enhanced commercially viable inspection routines are discussed. The work presented in the paper may be of interest to authorities, asset owners and managers of marine assets, operating both, inland and nearshore.
LAPAROSCOPIC CHOLECYSTECTOMY ADNAN NAZEER, MOHAMMAD; IMTIAZ, HASAAN; DAR, HARUN MAJID ...
The professional medical journal,
02/2013, Letnik:
20, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Introduction: The role of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in treatment of acute cholecystitis is still controversial. Objective:The objective of this prospective randomized controlled trial was to ...evaluate the outcomes of early laparoscopic cholecystectomy foracute cholecystitis and to compare the results with delayed cholecystectomy. Setting: Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore. Period: 1st Feb,2012 to 31st July 2012. Materials & Methods: 60 diagnosed patients of acute cholecystitis were randomly allocated to two groups,Group 1 underwent early laparoscopic cholecystectomy (Group 1, n = 30) and Group 2 to initial conservative treatment followed bydelayed laparoscopic cholecystectomy, 6 to 12 weeks later (Group 2 , n = 30). Results: The overall complication rate was 3.3% (01) inearly group and 16.7% (05) in the delayed group. There was no common bile duct injury in both groups. The complications includedwound infection and intraperitoneal collection. Conclusions: According to the results our study we concluded that early laparoscopiccholecystectomy can safely be carried out for acute cholecystitis as the complications for early laparoscopic cholecystectomy are lessas compared to delayed laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Early laparoscopic cholecystectomy has also an edge over delayed because ofsingle hospital stay.
Diabetes and Ramadan: Practical guidelines 2021 Hassanein, Mohamed; Afandi, Bachar; Yakoob Ahmedani, Muhammad ...
Diabetes research and clinical practice,
March 2022, 2022-Mar, 2022-03-00, 20220301, Letnik:
185
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam and is obligatory for all healthy Muslims from the age of puberty. Though individuals with some illness and serious medical conditions, ...including some people with diabetes, can be exempted from fasting, many will fast anyway. It is of paramount importance that people with diabetes that fast are given the appropriate guidance and receive proper care. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and Diabetes and Ramadan (DaR) International Alliance have come together to provide a substantial update to the previous guidelines. This update includes key information on fasting during Ramadan with type 1 diabetes, the management of diabetes in people of elderly ages and pregnant women, the effects of Ramadan on one’s mental wellbeing, changes to the risk of macrovascular and microvascular complications, and areas of future research. The IDF-DAR Diabetes and Ramadan Practical Guidelines 2021 seek to improve upon the awareness, knowledge and management of diabetes during Ramadan, and to provide real-world recommendations to health professionals and the people with diabetes who choose to fast.
Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNPs), owing to their antioxidant property, have recently emerged as therapeutic candidate for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, intravenous CNPs are limited due to their ...poor physicochemical properties, rapid blood clearance and poor blood-brain penetration. Thus, we developed intranasal CNPs and evaluated its potential in experimental AD. CNPs were synthesized using homogenous precipitation method and optimized through Box-Behnken Design. The formation of CNPs was confirmed by UV spectroscopy and FTIR. The optimized CNP were spherical, small (134.0 ± 3.35 nm), uniform (PDI, 0.158 ± 0.0019) and stable (ZP, -21.8 ± 4.94 mV). The presence of Ce in CNPs was confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. Further, the X-ray diffraction spectra revealed that the CNPs were nano-crystalline. The DPPH assay showed that at concentration of 50 µg/mL, the percentage radical scavenging was 95.40 ± 0.006%. Results of the in vivo behavioral studies in the scopolamine-induced Alzheimer rat model showed that intranasal CNPs dose dependently reversed cognitive ability. At dose of 6 mg/kg the morris water maze results (escape latency, path length and dwell time) and passive avoidance results (retention latency) were significantly different from untreated group but not significantly different from positive control group (rivastigmine patch, 13.3 mg/24 h). Further, biochemical estimation showed that intranasal CNP upregulated the levels of SOD and GSH in brain. In conclusion, intranasal CNPs, through its antioxidant effect, could be a prospective therapeutics for the treatment of cognitive impairment in AD.
This article offers a distinct survey of a multiphase flow through a uniform channel. The electro-osmotic phenomenon is the main source of the flow. Fourth-grade fluid model is used as the base ...liquid which is suspended with metallic particles to form a bi-phase viscous suspension. Skin friction effects are tackled by employing lubrication effects on the opposite walls of the channel. Porous media is governed by the modified Darcy's law and the Poisson differential equation is considered for electric double-layer effects. An approximate solution is achieved for the nonlinear fluid flow. The obtained findings are also compared with the existing literature for the limiting case. It is inferred that the shear thickness effects cause the momentum of the bi-phase flow to decline, gradually. However, the motion of the metallic particles is supported by the lubrication effects on the walls of the channel.
Background
The plants of
B. rapa
(syn.
B. campestris
) are the most important food crop of Pakistan for the production of cooking oil. Brassica plants infected by phytoplasma exhibit floral ...abnormalities including phyllody, virescence, hypertrophied sepal and aborted reproductive organs and affected flower developmental genes which reduces the yield manifold.
Methods and results
The expression level of flower developmental genes in healthy and phytoplasma infected brassica were compared by using semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and DNA hybridization. In infected brassica,
LEAFY (LFY)
gene
,
controlling the development and maintenance of floral organ, and directly involved in controlling the homeotic gene expression was affected, while
APETALA2
, regulate the production of sepals and petals, were not altered. Whereas the genes
WUSCHEL, APETALA3
and
AGAMOUS,
were significantly down-regulated, that were responsible for the identity of shoot and central meristem, petals and stamens production, and stamens and carpels development, respectively. The
GLUB
gene, controlling the production of β-1,3-glucanases enzyme, was highly up-regulated. According to DNA hybridization results,
AGAMOUS
and
APETALA3
were restricted to floral organs territories in healthy and phytoplasma infected brassica, indicating that their expression was tissue-specific. These outcomes indicated that flower abnormalities of phytoplasma infected
B. rapa
are linked with DNA methylation in the expression of homeotic genes regulating flower development.
Conclusions
Azacitidine act as a DNA demethylating reagent. By applying the foliar spray of azacitidine during the flower development, cells of Phytoplasma infected plants exhibits demethylation of DNA when treated with azacitidine chemical that incorporated as analogue of cytosine during the cell division stage.
B. rapa
showed the up-regulation of gene expression level significantly that restore the normal production of flowers, ultimately increase the oil production throughout the world.
The stomach contents of 30 male and 43 female (age < 3 years; 74–236 cm total length) juvenile great hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna mokarran (Rüppell, 1837)) obtained from commercial fisheries operating ...in Saudi Arabian waters of the Arabian Gulf were analyzed for the first time. After exclusion of parasites and abiotics, a total of 31 prey items, including the remains of cephalopods, fish, crustaceans, and bivalve mollusks, were identified in the stomachs of 59 great hammerheads. Based on the index of relative importance, teleosts were their main prey, and Platycephalus indicus (Linnaeus, 1758) was the most important prey at the species level. Significant age-related dietary differences were noted (F = 1.57, p = 0.026), indicating that the prey of the hammerheads aged 0–3 years shifted from Platycephalidae to Myliobatidae. Levin’s niche overlap index was low (0.05–0.21), indicating that <3-year-old juvenile great hammerheads are specialized predators. The estimated trophic level was 4.40–5.01 (mean ± SD, 4.66 ± 0.45), indicating that the great hammerhead is a tertiary consumer.
Vitamin D deficiency distresses nearly 50% of the population globally and multiple studies have highlighted the association of Vitamin D with a number of clinical manifestations, including ...musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and neurological disorders. In the current study, vitamin D oil-in-water (O/W) nanoemulsions were developed and incorporated in edible gummies to enhance bioavailability, stability, and patient compliance. The spontaneous emulsification method was employed to produce a nano-emulsion using corn oil with tween 20 and lecithin as emulsifiers. Optimization was carried out using pseudo-ternary phase diagrams and the average particle size and polydispersity index (PDI) of the optimized nanoemulsion were found to be 118.6 ± 4.3 nm and 0.11 ± 0.30, respectively. HPLC stability analysis demonstrated that the nano-emulsion prevented the degradation and it retained more than 97% of active vitamin D over 15 days compared to 94.5% in oil solution. Similar results were obtained over further storage analysis. Vitamin D gummies based on emulsion-based gelled matrices were then developed using gelatin as hydrocolloid and varying quantities of corn oil. Texture analysis revealed that gummies formulated with 10% corn oil had the optimum hardness of 3095.6 ± 201.7 g on the first day which remained consistent on day 45 with similar values of 3594.4 ± 210.6 g. Sensory evaluation by 19 judges using the nine-point hedonic scale highlighted that the taste and overall acceptance of formulated gummies did not change significantly (p > 0.05) over 45 days storage. This study suggested that nanoemulsions consistently prevent the environmental degradation of vitamin D, already known to offer protection in GI by providing sustained intestinal release and enhancing overall bioavailability. Soft chewable matrices were easy to chew and swallow, and they provided greater patient compliance.
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