Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay is a novel molecular diagnostic technique that can be used for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). It is most suited for developing countries as it ...is rapid, inexpensive, highly sensitive, requiring minimal infrastructure, training and manpower. Studies in pediatric TB are lacking. We evaluated LAMP in the diagnosis of pediatric pulmonary TB.
This was a cross-sectional analytical study conducted at a tertiary care teaching hospital in North India from July 2014 to June 2015 involving 60 children with suspected pulmonary TB. Respiratory specimens (sputum, gastric lavage, bronchoalveolar lavage and/or endotracheal aspirates) were collected and subjected to BACTEC MGIT 960 culture, IS6110 PCR, and LAMP assay targeting IS6110 gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Thirty seven children had confirmed and probable TB according to the composite reference standard (CRS). Among all the 3 tests used for diagnosis of Pulmonary TB, LAMP had highest sensitivity (37.8%) followed by PCR (27%), and culture (21.6%) when compared against the predefined CRS. Culture had maximum specificity of 100%; and PCR, and LAMP had specificity of 95–96%. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of LAMP against culture as reference standard were 75%, 72.4%, 42.9%, and 91.3% respectively. Similarly sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of PCR against culture as reference standard were 75%, 86.2%, 60%, and 86.2% respectively. On combining LAMP with culture, sensitivity increased to 45.7% (7.8% increase, p = 0.04).
We noted that LAMP had highest sensitivity when compared to culture and PCR and comparable specificity.
Determination of contaminant interaction with soil is essential for predicting its fate in geoenvironments. Several studies have appraised contaminant fate prediction based on the results of single ...contaminant-soil interaction. Although a few studies deal with multiple contaminant-soil interaction, its influence on contaminant fate prediction is not discussed in detail. Therefore, the present study will investigate the influence of multiple contaminant-soil interaction results about contaminant fate prediction. The influence of different ranges of contaminant concentration on fate prediction has also been studied. Results indicate that contaminant fate prediction based on multiple contaminant-soil interaction is higher than single contaminant interaction. Contaminant fate prediction based on linear isotherms is influenced by the range of concentration for single and multiple contaminants. For a lower range of concentration, contaminant fate prediction based on the Freundlich isotherm is greater than that of Langmuir, and vice versa for higher concentration ranges. Furthermore, the difference in contaminant fate prediction based on Freundlich and Langmuir nonlinear isotherms decreases with an increase in concentration.
Soil suction constitutes of the matric suction and the osmotic suction. Several studies have been conducted and reported by researchers that reveal the importance of the matric suction on unsaturated ...soil properties. However, not many efforts have been made to develop methodologies that can be employed for measuring osmotic suction of the soil and to understand its influence on unsaturated soil properties. With this in view, efforts were made to utilize the results of the pressure membrane extractor (PME) and the dewpoint potentiameter (WP4), which measure matric and total suction of the soil, respectively. Details of the methodology developed to achieve this are presented in this technical note.
A Dewpoint PotentiaMeter (WP4) was used to measure suction of two fine-grained soils: a locally available silty soil and commercially available white clay, rapidly. Using these results, efforts were ...made to check the suitability and efficiency of various fitting functions, for defining the soil–water characteristic curve, SWCC, for high suction ranges (0–80 MPa). In addition to this, a knowledge-based database SoilVision 3.34 was used to estimate the SWCC using Pedo-transfer functions, PTFs. The study brings out that the Fredlund et al. 1997, Proceedings of the 3rd Symposium on Unsaturated Soil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, pp. 13–23 PTF yields the best estimate of SWCC for fine-grained soils. The influence of the soil type and dry unit weight, on suction and the SWCC fitting parameters, have also been studied.
The frequent occurrence of unprecedented droughts has necessitated strategies for enhancing water use efficiency to boost agricultural production. Water-absorbing polymer (WAP) has emerged as a ...viable option for water stress management. However, the sensitivity of these hydrophilic WAP’s to the external ionic medium significantly affects their water absorption capacity. Therefore, the combined or hybrid use of WAP and organic/ inorganic fertilizers may inhibit the functionality of WAP, which needs to be thoroughly investigated. The objective of this study is to assess the performance of two different WAPs (a commercially available WAP and a laboratory synthesized WAP) with varying combinations of organic/ inorganic fertilizers in two different soil textures. The combined influence of fertilizers and WAP (a total of 13 combinations of treatment) on the soil-water retention curve (SWRC) of two agricultural soils (silt and silt loam) were quantified. The water-absorbing capacity (WAC) of both WAPs (Com-WAP and FA-WAP) was reduced under the influence of different fertilizers in the order of urea < organic < DAP. Despite the reduction in overall WAC, the combined use of fertilizers and WAP have improved the water retention in both the soils due to modification of the soil pore volume. The improvement in water retention was more significant in silt soil than the silt loam for both the WAPs. The sensitivity of FA-WAP to fertilizers was found to be less than Com-WAP. This opens up the possibility of engineering the WAP for better water use efficiency. Quantification from SWRC revealed a significant increase in plant wilting time and plant available water content (PAWC) under the combined influence of WAP and fertilizers. The study indicates the potential of WAP as an efficient soil conditioner even in the presence of fertilizer for countering the negative impacts of water stress conditions.
•Influence of combination of WAPs and fertilizers are investigated on soil water retention.•Water absorbency reduction is maximum for ionic DAP while minimum for urea.•Sensitivity of synthesized WAP to ionic fertilizer is lower than that for commercial WAP.•Water retention is higher for amendments with DAP than urea due to higher solubility and mobility of urea.•Combination of WAP and fertilizer increased plant wilting time by 1.9–2.3 times.
The knowledge of soil electrical and thermal resistivity finds its application in many of the real life engineering projects like laying of high voltage buried power cables, ground modification ...techniques etc. This necessitates determination of soil electrical resistivity and thermal resistivity and development of a relationship between them. However, as these resistivities mainly depend on the type of the soil (i.e. its physical composition) and its saturation, efforts have been made in this paper, to develop a generalized relationship to relate them. Validation of the relationship has been conducted vis-à-vis the results obtained from the laboratory experiments and those reported in literature.
Transfer of players between different football clubs happens in a particular time interval called transfer window. The issue with the present transfer market business model is that target players are ...chosen at the whim of the club's scouts, coaches, managers, and owners rather than using data-driven, objective approaches. This paper aims at obtaining individual attributes of various players and analyzing whether a player bought by a particular club would improve that team's overall gameplay in the upcoming seasons in a data-driven perspective. It does this by using machine learning to perform analysis and clustering. The use case considered is a football club called Norwich City. Data for the same has been collected and analyzed from fbref.com, the largest detailed football statistics website.
Multiwalled carbon nanotubes undergo a remarkable electrochemical transformation into graphene nanoribbons at room temperature in trifluoromethanesulfonic acid. More specifically, carbon nanotubes ...undergo oxidative unzipping in the first step in a potentiostatic manner to have several oxygen functionalities in the edges, while the second step ensures reductive transformation to graphene nanoribbons along with doping of fluorine. Such F-doped graphene nanoribbons are important for multifarious applications such as electrocatalysis, molecular electronics, biosensing, optoelectronics, photovoltaics, and energy storage. The open circuit potential of fluorinated graphene nanoribbons against anodes like sodium and lithium in standard battery electrolytes also suggests their potential utility in energy storage applications.
Biochar is a carbon-rich material obtained after thermochemical conversion of biomass under no oxygen environment. The effect of biochar amendment on soil properties, such as water retention, ...infiltration and desiccation crack potential was studied in the recent years. However, the effect of biochar or feedstock type on these properties is not explicit. This study investigates the effect of two different (in terms of feedstock) types of biochar on the water retention, infiltration and desiccation cracking behavior of compacted silty sand. Water retention characteristics, infiltration rate and the progression of desiccation cracks were measured after compacting soil amended with 5–10% (w/w) biochar produced from water hyacinth (WHB) and mesquite. Measurements were also taken for an unpyrolyzed material coir pith (CP, sourced from coconut husk)-amended soil for comparing the results of biochar-amended soil. The results show that the amendment of 5% to 10% biochar increased the maximum water holding capacity (θ
s
), air entry value (AEV) and water content at 1500 kPa (θ
1500
) of the soil, whereas decreased the infiltration rate and peak crack intensity factor (CIF) of the soil. Moreover, the application of CP increased the infiltration rate. The amendment of WHB showed the highest increment in AEV and θ
1500
and the highest decrement in infiltration rate and CIF compared to the other amendments. Based on the results, it is advisable to use the WHB-amended soil in bioengineered structures that could promote the growth of vegetation by higher water retention and could reduce the potential of leachate formation by decreasing water infiltration and desiccation crack potential.
