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Introduction: The brachial plexus is a variable nerve plexus in its formation and branching pattern. Variations in the brachial plexus are not uncommon, and its area of supply and associations with other adjacent anatomical structures require clinical and surgical attention. Aim: To find out any anatomical variations in the formation and branching pattern of the brachial plexus in human foetuses. Materials and Methods: A morphometric prospective observational study was conducted from January 2020 to July 2022, on 30 stillborn or Intrauterine Dead (IUD) human foetuses were taken in the study. Gestation age from 28 to 40 weeks of gestation were included in the study, while those with gross anomalies or morphological anomalies of the cranium and vertebral column were excluded. The dissection includes vertical midline incision of the skin from the external occipital protuberance to the lower limit of the thoracic vertebra (T12). The skin was cut in the midline and reflected laterally. All superficial and deep muscles of the neck were dissect out to clear the cervical and thoracic parts of the vertebral column. The vertebral column was cut and opened to visualise the spinal cord and spinal nerves. Based on gestational age, the foetuses were divided into three groups: four in the first group (28-31 weeks), twelve in the second group (32-35 weeks), and fourteen in the third group (36-40 weeks) were divided for descriptive purposes. The gender of foetuses was determined based on the external genitalia. Results: A total of 60 brachial plexuses were dissected, of which 49 (81.66%) had the usual anatomical formation of the trunks: the upper trunk formed by C5 and C6 roots, the middle trunk by the C7 root, and the lower trunk by the C8 and T1 roots. Eleven (18.34%) plexuses presented variations in trunk formation. Specifically, 8 (13.3%) brachial plexuses were of the prefix type, where the upper trunk was formed by the C5 and C6 roots with an additional contribution from the C4 root; there was inter-branch communication between C6 and C7 in one (1.7%) case; the middle and lower trunks united by C7, C8, and T1 roots formed the lower trunk in another (1.7%) case, and finally, one (1.7%) case exhibited the post-fix type. Conclusion: In this study, out of the 30 foetuses examined, 11 showed variations, which is not uncommon. The prefix type of brachial plexus is quite common among the possible variations, although anatomists and neurosurgeons cannot ignore the possibility of other variations, like post-fix type or communication between the roots of the brachial plexuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential applications of carbon black are expected to grow as science and technology improve offering up new possibilities for innovation throughout disciplines included in the field of energy storage. The present work shows the influence of carbon black to improve the ionic conductivity of the polymer electrolyte. The synthesis of polyethylene oxide: ammonium iodide based polymer electrolyte incorporated with carbon black varying from 0.01 to 0.06 wt% with respect to PEO: NH4I system by solution casting method. Different characterizations like polarized optical microscopy (POM), impedance spectroscopy, and ionic transference number (tion) are studied in detail. The maximum ionic conductivity is achieved at 0.05 wt% carbon black shows 1.20 × 10−5 S cm−1 at ambient temperature. In accordance with POM data, the amorphous region has increased whereas the crystalline region has shrunk which further indicated the increase in ionic conductivity. The value of (tion) is calculated to be 0.97 which shows the system is ionic in nature. PEO based polymer electrolyte doped carbon black can be used for the fabrication of energy storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent scenarios, plenty of research has been conducted on porous activated carbon derived from biowaste precursors. The well‐developed surface area and porous nature of biowaste‐derived activated carbon material make them good candidates for electrochemical devices to use as electrode material. In the present work, we have used waste peanut shells (W.P.) as a precursor material to derive large surface area activated carbon. Chemical activation is used to activate the activated carbon, for which ZnCl2 is used as an activating agent. The waste peanut shell‐derived activated carbon (WPAC) is studied via XRD, FESEM, and BET. Prepared carbon shows a large BET surface area of 1366 m2 g−1 and a well‐developed pore structure; the presence of pores is also confirmed by FESEM images. A solid‐state supercapacitor is also fabricated using waste peanut shell‐based activated carbon and ionic liquid‐based polymer electrolyte. The EDLC is further studied using electrochemical characterizations such as CV, EIS, and GCD. The EIS study found that the WPAC‐based EDLC cell shows a specific capacitance of 25 F/g at 10 mHz. A DSSC is also fabricated using the WPAC on the counter electrode, and it shows an efficiency of 0.96% with a fill factor of 27.79. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]