Jaipur city is one of the largest and fast developing cities of state Rajasthan, India. Majority of population in the city depends on piped water supplies for drinking and other domestic purposes. ...However, limited water resources, rapid industrialization and urbanization had resulted in increased pressure on water availability which in turn has led to deterioration of quality of drinking water. Microbial pathogens are one of the major health risks associated with water. With microorganisms, a primary cause for the occurrence of infectious diseases, the concentrations of harmful bacterial cells should be routinely monitored to maintain microbiological quality control of drinking water. The specific aim of the present study was to assess the microbiological and physicochemical quality of drinking water supplied in Jaipur. Water samples from twelve areas were collected and evaluated for physicochemical contaminants such as pH, electrical conductivity, fluoride, iron, nitrate, residual chlorine, total dissolved solids, total hardness and turbidity. The samples were also evaluated for eight most commonly found bacterial pathogens. Pathogenic bacteria were detected using polymerase chain reaction-based assays. Majority of parameters except few were found to be within bureau of Indian standards safety limits. Of all the bacteria tested,
Pseudomonas
was the most prominent bacteria and was detected in all locations.
Escherichia coli, Aeromonas
and
Shigella
were detected in three of the twelve locations, whereas
Campylobacter
was detected in two of the locations.
Vibrio, Salmonella
and
Arcobacter
were not detected in any of the locations. This approach was rapid, specific and sensitive. This study shows that water quality standards based on the occurrence of specific pathogens enumerated with PCR-based assays could serve as a method of evaluating the biological quality of water. Also, this study confirms the presence of these pathogenic bacteria in drinking water which may pose a serious health risk to consumers. This suggests that proper management of water resources (surface and groundwater) and regular water monitoring are needed. Also water utility operations should be such that quality is not impaired during transmission, storage and distribution of the municipal tap water to the consumer.
A structurally simple dielectric barrier discharge based mercury-free plasma UV-light source has been developed for efficient water disinfection. The source comprises of a dielectric barrier ...discharge arrangement between two co-axial quartz tubes with an optimized gas gap. The outer electrode is an aluminium baked foil tape arranged in a helical form with optimized pitch, while the inner electrode is a hollow aluminium metallic rod, hermetically sealed. Strong bands peaking at wavelengths 172 nm and 253 nm, along with a weak band peaking at wavelength 265 nm have been simultaneously observed due to plasma radiation from the admixture of xenon and iodine gases. The developed UV source has been used for bacterial deactivation studies using an experimental setup that is an equivalent of the conventional house-hold water purifier system. Deactivation studies for five types of bacteria, i.e., E. coli, Shigella boydii, Vibrio, Coliforms and Fecal coliform have been demonstrated with 4 log reductions in less than ten seconds.
The neurological manifestations of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection are well established, but limited understanding of the post-infectious neurological complications of COVID-19 (PINCC) contributes to ...significant morbidity and mortality. Hence in this study, we aimed to describe the clinical, radiological, and electrophysiological spectrum and outcome of PINCC from a tertiary referral center.
We identified 18 cases with diverse neurological manifestations following recovery from an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. The neurological manifestations, magnetic resonance imaging findings of the brain and spinal cord, nerve conduction studies, and the treatment and outcome data were collected from electronic medical records.
The mean age of presentation was 47± 18.5 years, and 11 patients (61 %) were male. For 11 (61 %) patients, prior COVID-19 symptoms were minimal or absent. The mean time to onset of neurological manifestations was 3 weeks after COVID-19 infection (range 1–8 weeks). 14 patients (77.8 %) had central nervous system (CNS) manifestations, and 4 (22.2 %) had peripheral nervous system (PNS) manifestations. The CNS manifestations included cerebrovascular events in 7, demyelination in 4, and aseptic meningitis, amnestic mild cognitive impairment, and disseminated tuberculosis in one case each. PNS manifestations were Guillain-Barré syndrome, mononeuritis multiplex, asymmetric polyradiculoneuropathy, and isolated diaphragm palsy in one patient each.
Post-infectious neurological complications of COVID-19 can involve both central and peripheral nervous system and is independent of the severity of acute infection.
Single crystals of 4-Nitrophenol urea have been grown from water using slow evaporation technique at constant temperature, with the vision to improve the properties of the crystals. The unit cell ...parameters of the grown crystals were determined by single crystal and powder X-Ray diffraction. FTIR studies reveals the presence of different vibrational bands. The Optical studies confirmed that the crystal is transparent up to 360 nm .TGA and DSC studies were carried out to understand the thermal behavior of crystals. The SHG studies show the suitability of the crystals for NLO applications. The etching studies were carried out to study the behavior of the crystals under different conditions.These studies reveal that the crystals of 4-Nitrophenol urea are suitable for device applications.
•4-Nitrophenol urea crystals of dimensions 14 mm × 1 mm were grown.•UV–Visible studies indicate the crystal is transparent in the region of 370–800 nm.•Thermal studies show the crystal starts decomposing at 170 °C.•SHG studies indicate that the crystals have NLO efficiency 3.5 times that of KDP.
Magnesium (Mg) and its alloys are third-generation biomedical implant material in the biomedical field. The limitation of using Mg in medical applications is its rapid corrosion rate. In the present ...work, for the first time, AZ91 magnesium alloy surface treated with the inductively coupled Ar/O2 Plasma process to decrease the corrosion rate of the alloy. The oxidation mechanism and surface analysis have been investigated in detail. The electrochemical studies in SBF solution reveal that plasma modified surface increases the corrosion resistance of the alloy compared to the untreated surface.
•AZ91 magnesium alloy surface was modified with inductively coupled Ar/O2 plasma.•Plasma rapidly oxidizes the surface of the alloy and creates a nanoporous surface.•Electrochemical studies indicate that the formed surface increases the corrosion resistance of the alloy.
The early Archean represents an important eon in the evolution of the earth’s continental crust and could provide insights into the nature of geodynamic processes that operated during that period. ...The Singhbhum Craton from the Indian Shield is the only major archive of Palaeo–Mesoarchean geological processes. The Palaeoarchean granitoids from the Keonjhar area of Singhbhum Craton are potassic granites and granodiorites of calc-alkaline affinity. Their age and elemental concentrations resemble the low Al₂O₃ granites reported from the Eastern Pilbara Craton of Australia. The geochemical systematics of these granitoids suggests their derivation due to crustal reworking involving partial melting of a tonalitic source, possibly older metamorphic tonalitic gneiss (OMTG). The OMTG could have been derived due to the melting of an enriched basaltic source at the base of an oceanic plateau. In the second stage, the resultant underplating at crustal levels caused the reworking that led to intracrustal melting and differentiation of OMTG to form potassic granites, similar to that of Keonjhar pluton. Consolidating the evidences from the available geochemical and isotopic studies with our own data and correlating them with the geophysical evidences, we interpret that the Keonjhar granitoids are the product of intracrustal melting in an oceanic plateau setting.
A strain of
Brevibacillus
formosus
, capable of producing a high level of chitinase, was isolated and characterized for the first time from the Great Indian Desert soils. The production of ...extracellularly secreted chitinase was analyzed for its biocontrol potential and optimized by varying media pH, temperature, incubation period, substrate concentrations, carbon and nitrogen sources, etc. A twofold increase in chitinase production (798 IU/mL) was achieved in optimized media containing (g l
−1
) chitin 2.0, malt extract 1.5, glycerol 1.0, ammonium nitrate 0.3 %, T-20 (0.1 %) and media pH 7.0 at 37 °C. The produced enzyme was purified using a three-step purification procedure involving ultra-filtration, ammonium sulphate precipitation and adsorption chromatography. The estimated molecular weight of the purified enzyme was 37.6 kDa. The enzyme was found thermostable at higher temperatures and showed a
t
½
of more than 5 h at 100 °C. Our results show that the chitinase produced by
B. formosus
BISR-1 is thermostable at higher temperatures.
A Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a wireless, self-configuring network, dynamic in nature and works without any topology. Due to its widespread usage in many heterogeneous networks like Internet of ...Things (IoT) and the requirement for communication with heterogeneous devices, MANET is receiving more attention. Important data is gathered using smart devices or IoT sensors. These sensors communicate with one another independently within the range. Their energy levels and computing resources are restricted and they migrate frequently as topology is quiet active. Due to the energy constraints, nodes in the network behave selfishly and drop the packets during communication. Identification of the trustworthy and energy efficient nodes is essential for ensuring secure data transmission. The proposed method Energy Trust-Based Approach (ETA) combines trust, energy and reliable routing. Based on trust and energy values, nodes are involved in routing. This method identifies trusted nodes based on direct, indirect, past experiences and estimates their energy levels such that routing is performed only with the trusted nodes whose residual energy exceeds the determined threshold. Efficiency of the routing can be enhanced by calculating the energy levels of the trust adopted nodes in the network. The proposed ETA method ensures efficient routing between source and destination with the involvement of trustworthy and energy efficient intermediate nodes. The proposed work is simulated using Network Simulator (NS-2) and compared with other approaches, Trusted Energy Secured Ad hoc On Demand Vector scheme (TES-AODV), Secure Trust along with Adaptive Trust Threshold Method (STAT) and Ad hoc on demand vector routing (AODV). The simulation results have shown efficiency over the performance metrics like Packet delivery ratio PDLR with an increase of 5.34%, 4% decrease in Packet drop ratio PDR, 8% improvement in Throughput, 9% improvement in Residual energy, 8% reduction in Latency, 1.4% reduction in Overhead, 1,4 h increment in Network lifetime and 9% decrease in Delay. Thus ETA ensures stable, secured and trusted data transmission compared to simple AODV, STAT and TES-AODV.
Nucleophosmin (NPM1) mutation is one of the most common recurring genetic abnormalities seen in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Immunohistochemistry serves as a cost effective and simple surrogate ...testing method for detection of NPM1 mutation. This study was conducted to evaluate the frequency of aberrant cytoplasmic nucleophosmin 1 expression in leukemic blast cells on formalin fixed bone marrow trephine biopsy (BMB) sections and also to correlate this data with the reference molecular method (reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction; RT-PCR and gene sequencing), where available. Immunostains were performed using mouse anti-NPM1 monoclonal antibody on 71 paraffin embedded bone marrow biopsies (BMB) of patients with AML of any French-American-British (FAB) subtype. Results of immunohistochemistry (IHC) were then compared with the reference molecular method. The proportion of NPM1 expression by immunostaining in AML cases was found to be 17%. Twelve of the total 71 cases demonstrated cytoplasmic nucleophosmin (NPMc+) on immunostaining. Eleven of the positive cases that were correlated with the molecular standard demonstrated mutation in exon 12 of NPM1 gene. Cytoplasmic nucleophosmin expression by immunostaining was found to be in complete agreement with the standard molecular method. In a resource restricted setup, the information from this study might help in providing an inexpensive and accurate detection method to facilitate introduction of this marker in diagnostic and prognostic workup of AML especially in patients showing normal karyotype and no common recurrent translocations.
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