The underground developments are likely to deteriorate the water quality, which causes damage to the structure. The pollutant levels largely affect the aquifer properties and alter the ...characteristics of the water quality. Ferritin nanoparticle usage proves to be an effective technology for reducing the pollutant level of the salts, which are likely to affect the underground structure. The observation wells are selected around the underground Metro Rail Corridor, and the secondary observation wells are selected around the corridors. Ferritin is a common iron storage protein as a powder used in the selected wells identified in the path of underground metro rail corridors. Water sampling was done to assess the water quality in the laboratory. The water quality index plots for the two phases (1995-2008) and (2009-2014) using GIS explains the water quality scenario before and after the Ferritin treatment. The Ferritin treatment in water was very effective in reducing the pollutants level of Fluoride and sulphate salts which is likely to bring damage to the structure.
Disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate salt is known for its excellent coordinating properties with the metal ions. The present study deals with the investigation of the prepared Disodium EDTA ...functionalized chitosan in corrosion inhibition for mild steel in 1 M HCl. The modified chitosan was characterized by spectral studies, thermal analysis, and Zeta potential studies. The corrosion inhibition efficiency (%) was evaluated using the gravimetric method and electrochemical studies. The electrochemical studies included potentiodynamic polarization, linear polarization resistance, and electrochemical impedance methods. The modified chitosan polymer showed an inhibition efficiency of 96.63% for 500 ppm at 303 K. Adsorption process obeyed Langmuir isotherm. Experimental results and theoretical calculations endorsed initial physisorption followed by a chemisorption process. Surface characterization studies supported the formation of a protective film that enabled the inhibition process. Density functional theory, Monte Carlo studies, and molecular dynamics simulation studies show a good agreement with the experimental results. Two-way Analysis of Variance was performed to test the influence of immersion period and inhibitor concentration on the corrosion rate using the statistical software IBM SPSS 20.0. A quartic model was generated as the best fit with the highest R2 value of 0.973. Design Expert software was employed for statistical modeling fit.
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•The present investigation promotes circular economy.•Corrosion inhibition performance of DSEC reaches 96.6% for 500 ppm at 303 K.•DFT, MC and MD simulation studies, RDF analysis endorse experimental results.•A quartic model was generated for statistical modeling.
Aims/hypothesis
This study reports the results of the first phase of a national study to determine the prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes (impaired fasting glucose and/or impaired glucose ...tolerance) in India.
Methods
A total of 363 primary sampling units (188 urban, 175 rural), in three states (Tamilnadu, Maharashtra and Jharkhand) and one union territory (Chandigarh) of India were sampled using a stratified multistage sampling design to survey individuals aged ≥20 years. The prevalence rates of diabetes and prediabetes were assessed by measurement of fasting and 2 h post glucose load capillary blood glucose.
Results
Of the 16,607 individuals selected for the study, 14,277 (86%) participated, of whom 13,055 gave blood samples. The weighted prevalence of diabetes (both known and newly diagnosed) was 10.4% in Tamilnadu, 8.4% in Maharashtra, 5.3% in Jharkhand, and 13.6% in Chandigarh. The prevalences of prediabetes (impaired fasting glucose and/or impaired glucose tolerance) were 8.3%, 12.8%, 8.1% and 14.6% respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that age, male sex, family history of diabetes, urban residence, abdominal obesity, generalised obesity, hypertension and income status were significantly associated with diabetes. Significant risk factors for prediabetes were age, family history of diabetes, abdominal obesity, hypertension and income status.
Conclusions/interpretations
We estimate that, in 2011, Maharashtra will have 6 million individuals with diabetes and 9.2 million with prediabetes, Tamilnadu will have 4.8 million with diabetes and 3.9 million with prediabetes, Jharkhand will have 0.96 million with diabetes and 1.5 million with prediabetes, and Chandigarh will have 0.12 million with diabetes and 0.13 million with prediabetes. Projections for the whole of India would be 62.4 million people with diabetes and 77.2 million people with prediabetes.
The polar head and a hydrophobic long alkyl chain end of surfactants show effective adsorption on the metal surfaces and metal/solution interfaces. The present study deals with the investigation of ...corrosion inhibition efficiency of chitosan modified with an anionic surfactant, namely sodium lauryl sulfate. The modified chitosan was characterized using spectral techniques such as ATR- FTIR and NMR, thermal analytical methods that include TGA and DSC. The surface charge and particle size distribution were analyzed using Zeta potential analyzer. The corrosion inhibition efficiency of the water-soluble modified chitosan was evaluated using gravimetric and electrochemical methods. A maximum corrosion inhibition efficiency of 96.44% for 6 h of immersion period at 303 K was obtained. The adsorption process obeyed Langmuir isotherm. The adsorption mechanism involved both physisorption and chemisorption. Tafel and impedance studies showed results in agreement with the gravimetric method. Tafel plot indicates the inhibitor controlled both cathodic hydrogen evolution and anodic metal dissolution reactions. AC impedance study supports the increase in surface coverage of the metal surface by the inhibitor, forming a protective film. Further evidence comes from the surface characterization of the inhibited metal surface by contact angle measurement, SEM, EDAX spectra, and atomic force microscopic studies. DFT and Monte Carlo simulation studies showed a proper alignment with the experiment results.
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•SLC characterization in terms of functional groups, temperature response, surface charge, and particle size distribution•IE (%) evaluated using gravimetric and electrochemical methods.•Surface characterization using Contact angle, AFM, SEM, EDAX studies•DFT and Monte Carlo simulation studies to validate experimental results
The prevalence of diabetes mellitus has become a global public health issue. Natural herbal treatments for type 2 diabetes mellitus have been widely used in traditional societies but has recently ...become popular among western societies as well. The aim of this study was to explore the experience of type 2 patients with diabetes mellitus who are currently on natural herbal treatment. A qualitative, phenomenological design has been used. Twelve participants from both males and females, aged between 25 and 75 years, who were on medical treatment, were selected for sampling. In-depth interviews were conducted at the diabetes clinic in a selected hospital in southern Sri Lanka. The athematic analysis was conducted, and 6 themes were derived. The majority of participants (75%) were motivated to use natural herbal treatments other than oral glycemic therapy. Experiences have been identified as the most influential factors in the use of natural herbal treatments. The need for educational interventions on natural herbal treatments and to propose the integration of herbal medicine into current medical systems is recommended.
Ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA) is a neoplastic contagious chronic disease infecting sheep and goats.
Jaagsiekte
sheep retrovirus (JSRV) is an aetiological agent causing OPA in small ruminants. ...JSRV was first isolated and whole genome sequenced in South Africa. The OPA clinical manifestation shows overproduction of lung fluid, dyspnoea and pyrexia with cough resembling pneumonia. Pathologically infected lung tissue shows greyish white, moist, enlarged, heavy and oedematous characteristics. The total RNA from OPA infected sheep and goat samples were isolated by Trizol method and converted to cDNA using poly dTP primers. The JSRV U3 gene region was amplified by PCR. The PCR products were resolved in 2% Agarose gel, sequenced by Sanger method. The sequence analysis and phylogenetic studies were performed using Mega 6 software. The genetic analysis revealed that most of the presently isolated sequences showed homology with UK strain (AF105220) whereas one sequence (SVU01) obtained from infected goat sample showed homology with South African strain (M80216). The genetic analysis discloses that presently sequenced JSRV U3 gene sequences have genetically deviated from the previously reported U3 gene sequences. The SVU01 gene sequence revealed 97% homology to SA Strain (M80216), 93% homology with UK strain (AF105220) and 91% homology with GVM05 strain (AB915881). The remaining three gene sequences (SVU02, SVU03 and SVU04) isolated from sheep showed 97% homology to UK strain (AF105220). Further phylogenetics analysis revealed SVU02 and SVU03 closely cluster together along with GVM05 genotype, SVU04 clustered with UK strain (AF105220) whereas SVU01 branched separately clustering with SA strain (M80216) respectively.
In a multi-user multi-cell massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system, pilot contamination is a challenge of channel estimation. Traditional channel gain estimation follows pilot-based ...estimation, which is processed with the contamination and degrades the spectral efficiency. In order to overcome the above-stated problem, this work proposes User Segregation-Based Channel Estimation (USCE) improve spectral efficiency. The estimation process considers the prior minimization of pilot contamination. Hence the convergence of the proposed model with minimal contamination is validated. Moreover, the proposed user segregation method includes knowledge of both large-scale fading and small-scale fading. In order to do the analysis, the number of users is changed from N=100, 500, and 1000 to fix τd=200. The worst-case, best-case, mean, median, and Standard deviation (SD) case scenarios are all taken into account during this study. When compared to alternative methods such as Blind downlink channel estimation (BDCE) and Orthogonal pilot reuse sequence-based channel estimation (OPRSCE), the simulated results show that the suggested approach regularly produces accurate estimation. Accordingly, the NMSE value attained by the proposed work is −14.254 dB, whereas the other models achieve the NMSE values of −32.453 dB, and −54.764 dB, respectively.
Transmissibility within closed settings, such as households, can provide a strategic way to characterize the virus transmission patterns because the denominator can be well defined. We aimed to ...characterize the household transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS CoV-2) and its associated risk factors.
This prospective case-ascertained study was conducted among the household contacts of laboratory-confirmed SARS CoV-2 cases residing in Ballabgarh, Haryana. We enrolled 148 index cases and their 645 household contacts between December 16, 2020 and June 24, 2021. We defined household contact as any person who had resided in the same household as a confirmed COVID-19 case. Baseline data collection and sample collection for real time- reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and IgM/IgG against SARS CoV-2 were done on day 1 visit, and followed for a period of 28 days. RT-PCR was repeated on day 14 or whenever the contact is symptomatic and blood sample for serology was repeated on day 28. We estimated household secondary infection rate (SIR) and other epidemiological indicators-median incubation period and serial interval. We employed binomial logistic regression to quantify risk factors associated with infection.
The household SIR was 30.5% (95% CI: 27.1-34.1%). The secondary clinical attack rate was 9.3% (95% CI: 7.2-11.8). The risk factors that showed higher susceptibility to infection were household contacts who were the primary care giver of the case, whose index cases were symptomatic, those with underlying medical conditions, those living in overcrowded households, who were sharing toilet with the index cases and also who were not wearing a mask when coming in contact with the case. The median (IQR) incubation period was 4 days (4, 5), mean (SD) serial interval 6.4 (±2.2) days, and median (IQR) serial interval 5 days (5, 7).
Households favour secondary transmission of SARS CoV- 2, hence, index cases are recommended to self-isolate and wear masks; and household contacts to follow strict COVID infection control measures within households when a family member is infected.
In the real-time scenario involving wireless sensor networks, the data forwarding and data gathering procedures are taking place from the remote environment. With the involvement of heterogeneous ...architecture and multi-hop data transmission paths, there lies a serious threat for secured data communication. There may be chances of data attacks either from the inside intruder or from the external intruder. The problem of data flow attack by adding malicious information, viz. Data injection attack and outside arbitrary attack, viz. Byzantine attacks are found to be more dangerous and cause vulnerability for the wireless sensor network. So improving the reliability and security in multi-relay networks is very much essential. In this work, the practical approach of detecting data injection and Byzantine attacks using the proposed method of random network coding is performed. Then, as improvisation measure, the priority scheduling algorithm is implemented to effectively schedule the data transfer. Real-time packets with highest priority in the distribution queue are placed first in the processing mechanism. The remaining packets are arranged based on the position of the sensor nodes and are placed in separate queues. Least priority packets can obstruct the dispensation of their direct higher precedence packets after waitlisted for a certain number of time frames. Simulation results using the NS2 environment show that using the priority scheduling algorithm has good performance values in terms of the packet delivery ratio, throughput and delay. Also, the attack detection metrics such as false positive ratio and detection ratio are also improved when using the priority scheduling algorithm. Thus an improvised priority algorithm for an uplink scheduler in WSN is implemented to increase the performance and detection metrics.
The origin of the myofibroblast in fibrotic lung disease is uncertain, and no effective medical therapy for fibrosis exists. We have previously demonstrated that transforming growth factor-β1 ...(TGF-β1) induces pleural mesothelial cell (PMC) transformation into myofibroblasts and haptotactic migration in vitro . Whether PMC differentiation and migration occurs in vivo , and whether this response can be modulated for therapeutic benefit, is unknown. Here, using mice recombinant for green fluorescent protein (GFP) driven by the Wilms tumor-1 (WT-1) promoter, we demonstrate PMC trafficking into the lung and differentiation into myofibroblasts. Carbon monoxide or the induction of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) inhibited the expression of myofibroblast markers, contractility, and haptotaxis in PMCs treated with TGF-β1. Intrapleural HO-1 induction inhibited PMC migration after intratracheal fibrogenic injury. PMCs from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) exhibited increased expression of myofibroblast markers and enhanced contractility and haptotaxis, compared with normal PMCs. Carbon monoxide reversed this IPF PMC profibrotic phenotype. WT-1–expressing cells were present within fibrotic regions of the lungs in IPF subjects, supporting a role for PMC differentiation and trafficking as contributors to the myofibroblast population in lung fibrosis. Our findings also support a potential role for pleural-based therapies to modulate pleural mesothelial activation and parenchymal fibrosis progression.
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