Recent technologic advances have markedly enhanced the clinical applications of computed tomography (CT). While the benefits of CT exceed the harmful effects of radiation exposure in patients, ...increasing radiation doses to the population have raised a compelling case for reduction of radiation exposure from CT. Strategies for radiation dose reduction are difficult to devise, however, because of a lack of guidelines regarding CT examination and scanning techniques. Various methods and strategies based on individual patient attributes and CT technology have been explored for dose optimization. It is the purpose of this review article to outline basic principles of CT radiation exposure and emphasize the need for CT radiation dose optimization based on modification of scanning parameters and application of recent technologic innovations.
A case report of staphylococcal transverse myelitis.
To illustrate the clinical presentation of acute transverse myelitis due to Staphylococcus aureus, without a contiguous source of infection.
...National Neuroscience Institute.
A 79-year-old female was diagnosed with acute transverse myelitis. Clues to an infectious etiology included fever, raised inflammatory markers and cerebrospinal fluid neutrophilic pleocytosis. Staphylococcal etiology was established based on cerebrospinal fluid and blood cultures. Despite extensive investigations, no contiguous or systemic source of infection could be identified. She was treated with appropriate antibiotics; however, neurological recovery was poor.
Bacterial myelitis may occur in isolation and the diagnosis should not be discounted when evaluation shows an absence of a contiguous or systemic source of infection.
The migration patterns of farmers, rural women, and youth within agricultural households have a significant impact on rural communities and the agricultural sector. To gain a deeper understanding of ...research trends in migration behavior, a study was conducted using comprehensive bibliometric analysis and text mining. René Descartes’ Discourse framework was employed to analyze 504 research articles retrieved from the Dimension.ai database followed by further analysis with Microsoft Excel, R software and VOS viewer. The study revealed a growing interest of various stakeholders in this field, with an increasing number of publications focusing on various aspects from 1934 to 2023. In terms of the publication’s performance analysis, the study identified human society and the second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) as the most significant research areas. These areas aim to address hunger and improve food security for migrants. Regarding migration studies, three influential journals—Sustainability, World Development, and Journal of Rural Studies—were identified, with the most influential author being J. Vernon Henderson from the United Kingdom. Citation analysis was conducted to determine the highest number of citations for the influential author (J. V. Hernderon), journal (World Development), organization (World Bank), and country (United States) based on scientific attribution. Additionally, a co-word analysis was performed to research article’s abstracts to map into key thematic clusters that include climate change, food insecurity, and the COVID-19 crisis. The study visualized the social network of authors, organizations, and countries involved in co-authorship analysis within the research field. Furthermore, a journal co-citation analysis was undertaken to reveal the intellectual structure of migration studies in the agricultural context. Text mining of the research documents uncovered both anticipated and unanticipated effects of migration on households. Consequently, these findings provide valuable insights into future research directions and evidence-based policy framing which will contribute to shielding agricultural households from unforeseen consequences of migration, benefiting researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in this arena.
Wind energy, which is one of the major sources of renewable energy sources, may be extracted using self-excited induction generators and are preferred in hilly, rural and remote areas where grid ...connections are either costly or not feasible. However, one of the major problems associated with such generators is its poor voltage regulation. This paper presents the application of fuzzy logic controller to regulate the terminal voltage of such machines by static switching control of dump load. It has been shown that such proposal as presented will enhance the overall dynamic performance of the machine. The simulation results with proposed control model under varying consumer load are found to be much better than with PI controller and electronic load controller.
Strong tube−tube van der Waal attractions that hinder the dissolution of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as individuals have been overcome by the direct protonation of the tubes by superacids. ...The pristine nanotubes disperse as individuals in 100% H2SO4, oleum, trifluromethanesulfonic acid, and chlorosulfonic acid to varying solubility levels. Optically homogeneous solutions with concentration as high as 45 g/L (2.5 wt %) at room temperature have been observed in the case of chlorosulfonic acid, the strongest among the series of superacids investigated. A dissolution model is proposed wherein the solubilized tubes exist as protonated polycarbocations, charge balanced by corresponding conjugate base anions. The removal of electrons from the SWNT, leading to a fractional positive charge on the carbons in the protonated state, is reversible upon deprotonation. With increasing concentration of the solubilized nanotubes, anion-mediated attractions at lower concentrations and spatial constraints at high concentrations guide the transformation of the SWNT−acid system into a nematic mesophase. Highly anisotropic, nematic mesophases formed in the dissolution process are promising precursors for the fabrication of macroscopic forms of SWNTs with high alignment of the carbon nanotubes.
Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) can be dispersed at high concentration in superacids; the protonation of SWNTs sidewalls eliminates wall−wall van der Waals interactions and promotes the ...dispersion process. At very low concentration, SWNTs in superacids dissolve as individual tubes which behave as Brownian rods. At higher concentration, SWNTs form a highly unusual nematic phase consisting of spaghetti-like self-assembled supermolecular strands of mobile, solvated tubes in equilibrium with a dilute isotropic phase. At even higher concentration, the spaghetti strands self-assemble into a polydomain nematic liquid crystal. Upon the introduction of small amounts of water, the liquid crystal phase separates into needle-shaped strands (∼20 μm long) of highly aligned SWNTs, termed alewives. Under anhydrous condition, the liquid crystalline phase can be processed into highly aligned fibers of pure SWNT without the aid of any surfactants or polymers.
Indomethacin suppositories were prepared by using water-soluble and oil soluble suppository bases, and evaluated for in vitro release by USP I and modified continuous flow through bead bed apparatus. ...Effect of the Tween 80 (1% and 5%) was further studied on in vitro release of the medicament. Release rate was good in water-soluble suppositories bases in comparison to oil soluble suppositories bases. Release was found to be greater in modified continuous flow through bead bed apparatus. When surfactant was used in low concentration then release rate was much greater, as compared to high concentration. When stability studies were performed on the prepared indomethacin suppositories it was found that suppositories made by water-soluble base had no significant changes while suppositories prepared by oil soluble bases, had some signs of instability.
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