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Densities, viscosities and ultrasonic velocities were measured for four binary, one ternary and one quaternary liquid systems at 298.15 K to obtain values of excess internal pressure and excess energy of vaporization. Values of pseudo-Gruneisen parameter and excess pseudo-Gruneisen parameter have been evaluated theoretically for two quaternary liquid systems. A quantitative relationship has been established among these thermodynamic properties with the help of relevant expressions. Study of molecular interaction has been made in the light of excess thermodynamic functions.

This paper provides a review of the current status of the walnut industry in India. The cultural practices, growing regions and marketing trends of the walnut industry in India are analyzed in detail. The paper also addresses the issues related to production constraints and future expansion in India's commercial walnut production. With the improved living standards and increased interest in walnut growing, India is quietly becoming a major walnut producing country.

Sound velocity and allied parameters, effective Debye temperature and pseudo-Gruneisen parameter for Pb–Sn molten binary mixture have been studied theoretically over a wide range of temperature and composition. An interaction study has also been made in the present context by computing excess pseudo-Gruneisen parameter which is a measure of the extent of molecular interaction involved in the liquid mixture. Effect of temperature on intermolecular free length has been studied with the help of free length theory of Jacobson.

A comparative study on antioxidative effects of vitamin E, amla-electrolyte (Electrolyte mix of Emblica officinalis) and mint (Mentha longifolia) supplementation in broilers was conducted during the summer months of May-July with temperature-humidity index ranging from 73 to 80. Day old broiler chicks (n=75) were randomly divided into five groups. Control group was given basal diet and treatment groups were supplemented with either Vitamin E (200mg/kg feed), dried mint leaves (10g/kg and 30g/kg feed) or amla-electrolyte mix (1g/kg feed) from day 1 to seven weeks of age. Control group at 3rd and 5th week showed high concentration of lipid peroxidation and low activity of glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in erythrocytes, heart, liver and brain cortex. Antioxidants supplemented groups showed significantly reduced level of lipid peroxidation in erythrocytes both at 3rd and 5th week and in tissues. The GSH, catalase, SOD and glutathione reductase activities were elevated in erythrocytes whereas GSH and SOD activities were depressed in treated birds. It can be concluded from the results that oxidative stress in broilers during summer could be ameliorated using herbal antioxidants.

Functional carbon nanotubes (CNT) have attracted much attention for analytical and biomedical applications. This paper describes the fabrication of a cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) immobilised polyaniline (PANI)/CNT composite electrode for the amperometric detection of cholesterol. The prepared ChOx/PANI/CNT/Au bioelectrode bound ChOx via the available functionalties of PANI (-NH2) and CNT (-COOH). Moreover, the CNT creates a network inside the matrix that strengthens the mechanical property of the bioelectrode. The multifunctional matrix is presumed to provide a 3D-mesoporous surface, which substantially enhances enzyme activity. The linear range of the biosensor for cholesterol oleate was 30-280 μM with a response time of 10 sec.

Flotation of Low Grade Uranium Ores with Iso-octyl Phosphates

The forensic DNA analysis is commonly used to detect the criminal activities but, it is also used in civil cases to establish the paternity of disputed offspring. The majority of cases regarding disputed paternity arise in the context of affiliation orders, divorce proceedings and questioned legitimacy, may also be used to find out paternity in cases of inheritance, guardianship, maintenance, legitimacy, adultery or fornication. The present work is done to find out the biological father of child in a case where mother alleged to a person for her pregnancy.

A detailed metallurgical investigation was undertaken to ascertain the cause of the premature cracking of inner covers used in the batch annealing furnaces of Bokaro Steel Plant of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). It was found that the cracking was a result of the profuse precipitation of chromium carbide. Precipitation of chromium carbide sensitizes the steel to corrosion attack because of denudation of chromium from the matrix. Use of a properly stabilized austenitic stainless steel was recommended for prolonged life of the inner covers.

X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) data for eight beta-lactam viz., ampicillin sodium, ampicillin trihydrate, penicillin G procaine, benzathine penicillin, benzyl penicillin sodium, cefalexin, cefotaxime sodium and ceftriaxone sodium; three tetracyclines viz., doxycycline hydrochloride, oxytetracycline dihydrate and tetracycline hydrochloride; and two macrolide viz., azithromycin and erythromycin estolate antibiotic drugs were obtained using a powder diffractometer. The drugs were scanned from Bragg angles (2theta) of 10 degrees to 70 degrees. The obtained data were tabulated in terms of the lattice spacing (A) and relative line intensities (I/I(I)). This new information may be useful for identifying these drugs from confiscated materials, which has been frequently encountered in forensic laboratories.

SYNOPSIS Based on energy balance equations, the expressions for effective absorptance and transmittance product (ατ)eff water and glass temperatures, yield and instantaneous efficiency of a passive solar still have been derived. A computer model has been developed to predict the performance of a solar still using the inner glass temperature. The present model uses values of constants Cinner and ninner obtained from using experimental data from 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 June 2001, in the climatic conditions of Delhi. It is inferred that there is reasonable agreement between the experimental and predicted theoretical results.

A comprehensive understanding was developed on the evolution of microstructure and texture during annealing of Nb bearing microalloyed drawing quality high strength cold rolled (HSCR) sheet with specific reference to cold rolling and annealing practices. Further, this study aimed at establishing the best combination of these processing parameters to achieve an YET value of 1.4 min. For a hot rolled microstructure of moderately coarse ferrite grain of size 16 µm, it was observed that 70% cold reduction guaranteed high intensity of (222) component accompanied with minimum intensity of (200) component. Further, investigation was carried out to understand the influence of annealing time on recrystallization behavior and texture development during intermediate annealing of 60% and 70% cold reduced specimens at 550 °C. It was found that recrystallization ceased after 12 h of intermediate annealing at 550 °C. The textures and microstructures produced during final annealing of 70% cold rolled specimens at various temperatures like 670, 690, 710, and 730 °C with varied duration of soaking (12–18 h) were critically examined. An YET value of ∼1.5 was achieved in HSCR microalloyed steel when 70% cold rolled specimens were intermediately annealed at 550 °C for 12 h followed by final annealing at 710 °C for 12 h.

Changing climatic scenario with respect to biotic and abiotic factors may be the major challenge for sustainable sugarcane production. The basic effect of climate change is expected to rise in average temperature, increase in mean summer rainfall, frequent and longer dry spells, hot extremes, degradation of natural resources especially land, water and bio- diversity. The diverse challenge and constrains faced by sugarcane growers to fulfill their ever increasing demands from limited available natural resources. Weeds have become more prolific and are expected to invade new habitats as global warming increases. Insect-pests, some ofwhich carry plant diseases, could become more prolific and widespread as temperatures increase. It is also possible that increases in temperature, moisture and carbon dioxide could result in higher populations of destructive pests. Constrains such as erratic rainfall, soil acidity, limited access to credit and rises in production costs have been mentioned to be the major constrains faced by sugarcane growers in India. Major options to tackle the climatic challenge are development of suitable varieties, adoption of integrated approaches for managing nutrient, weed, and insect-pest, and developing location specific suitable varieties having special desirable traits as per requirement of growers. Mechanization of farm is essential for timely completion of operation and reducing human drudgery without compromising the profitability of farming community. Machine should be arranged either on custom hired basis or by procuring groups of farmers depending upon the cost. Government and policy maker may provide small machine or equipments for small farmers on subsidized basis. Crop insurance and marketing risks are to be also taken care by intercropping or crop diversification for sustaining the productivity and profitability of the system.

Under-utilized subtropical fruits because of their hardy nature of tree, high production potential in degraded lands and high nutritional value have immense potential of commercialization in rural India in the years to come. During last five decades, most of the horticultural development efforts were confined to the improvement and commercialization of major fruit crops like mango, banana, apple, guava, citrus, papaya, litchi, grapes, etc. Work done on under-utilized subtropical fruits in the country especially during last one decade has opened up new vistas of horticultural growth in general and arid and semi-arid regions in particular for enhancing small farmers’ profitability and also the nutritional security. The crops like aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn), bael (Aegle marmelos Correa), jamun (Syzygium cumini Skeels), custard apple (Annona squamosa L.), khirni (Manilkara hexandra (Roxb) Dubard), carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.), mulberry (Morus spp), barhal (Artocarpus lakoocha Roxb), karonda (Carissa carandas L), tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.), chironji (Buchanania lanzan Spreng) and wood apple (Limonia acidissima L.) and jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) have a lot of diversity in hot spot areas and offer immense potential of identifying superior genotypes for commercialization. The present paper deals with the prospects of utilization of these crops for enhancing profitability of small holders and the latest efforts made in development of superior genotypes in the country. Aonla cultivars like Kanchan, Krishna, NA-7, NA-10, Lakshmi-52, Goma Aishwarya have gained popularity while CISH B-1, CISHB-2, Pant Aparna, Pant Sujata, Pant Shivani, Pant Urvashi, NB-5, NB-7, NB-9, NB-16, NB-17, Goma Yashi, Thar Divya and Thar Neelkanth of bael have spread in many new areas and contributed to enhanced profitability. Paras, Konkan Bahdoli, Thar Kranti, Goma Priyanka, CISHJ-37 and CISHJ-42(seedless) have been developed in jamun for commercialization. Arka Sahan and Balanagar custard apples are being adopted in various degraded areas. Thar Priya and Thar Rituraj identified in chironji and khirni, respectively have become a new hope for plateau of central and western India. Pant Manohar, Pant Sudarshan, Pant Suvarna, Maroon coloured, White Pink Blush and Thar Kamal in karonda and Konkan Prolific, Singapore/Ceylon Jack, Hybrid Jack, Burliar-1, PLR-1 (Palur-1), PPI-1 (Pechiparai-1) in jackfruit are some of the promising cultivars developed for commercialization. The crops like mulberry, barhal, wood apple, khirni, chironji and carambola have exhibited tremendous variability in fruit traits for selection and commercialization of new cultivars. The expected economic returns from the crops like custard apple, bael, jamun, chironji, khirni, carambola, etc are very high when marketed properly.

Globally, the chicken infectious anaemia virus (CIAV) has gained much importance as an immunosuppressive and economically important emerging pathogen of poultry. In recent years, the virus has been detected and isolated from poultry flocks of India. The present study reports the first sero-epidemiological investigation of the presence of CIAV infection in poultry flocks of the country. A total of 404 serum samples were collected from chicken flocks of eleven poultry farms, which contain a total of 0.34 million birds from four Northern states, suspected of having chicken infectious anaemia (CIA). Screening of the sera samples using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit revealed 351 serum samples (86.88%) to be positive for CIAV antibodies. A high CIAV prevalence rate recorded in the present investigation, along with earlier virus detection reports, indicates the widespread distribution of the virus and that CIAV should be considered an economically important poultry pathogen affecting poultry industry of India. Extensive nationwide epidemiological studies are suggested for revealing the economic impact of CIA and to initiate further research along with devising and adapting suitable prevention and control strategies especially the use of suitable vaccines for safeguarding poultry health and production in the country.

There has been an increasing interest in pranayamic breathing exercises which have been known to improve the quality of life. Present study was conducted to find out the effect of Bhastrika and Anulom Vilom Pranayam and yogasana on heart rate variability, general well being, cognition and anxiety levels of the medical students. Ninety-six medical students were randomly divided into two groups. One group performed Bhastrika and Anulom Vilom Pranayam and the second Suryanamaskar for six weeks. The subjects were made to fill in PGI memory scale, Hamilton- anxiety scale and psychological general well being schedule and recording of heart rate variability parameters was done, before and after six weeks of pranayam practice. The results showed highly significant increase in high frequency (HF) components of heart rate variability and decrease in low frequency (LF) components and LF/HF inthe group practising pranayam. There was also highly significant improvement of cognition, general well being and anxiety as shown by the PGI memory scale, Hamilton- anxiety scale and psychological general well being schedule scores in this group. In the yogasana group no significant changes were observed in the heart rate variability, cognition and anxiety although psychological general well being schedule scores significantly improved after six weeks practice of yogasana. The study shows that practice of slow breathing type of pranayam for six weeks improves cognition, anxiety and general well being and Increases the parasympathetic activity. Whereas there was no effect of the yogasana on the above parameters except improvements in the general well being.

CPD cathode, made out of tungsten wire, using active sintering resulted in uniform and two-fold emission as compared to B-type cathode. Studies on wire diameter using MATLAB code suggests that 20 μm diameter provides optimum barium coverage. Detailed experimental results will be presented. A conventional dispenser cathode has an emitting button, made out of porous tungsten. The pores are distributed in random sizes and shapes across the surface. As a result the barium diffusion from bulk to the pore end and the subsequent migration into the inter-pore region are not uniform all across the surface, due to which the emission uniformity is affected. Figure 1. SEM image of CP pellet A cathode wherein the distribution and size of the pores can be directly controlled would represent a controlled porosity dispenser (CPD) cathode. One of the techniques to fabricate a CPD cathode pellet is by slicing a pellet out of sintered bunch of tungsten (W) wires [1]. A simple technique has been developed by us [2] to fabricate the pellet out of “activated sintered bunch of tungsten (W) wires”. In this approach the activation energy for sintering is lowered by an addition of a small amount of active material thereby avoiding the need to reach elevated temperatures. A compression fixture has been designed and fabricated to carry out sintering operation under pressure. The fabrication of CPD cathode assembly, mainly, involved: (a) making bunch, out of bits of W-wire of diameter 50 μm and compressing under hot condition, (b) machining of bunch using wire cutting to obtain pellets, (c) vacuum firing of pellets to remove the excess active material, (d) impregnating the pellets with barium-calcium-aluminates in the ratio of 4:1:1, and (e) integration of the impregnated pellets with potted heater assembly using laser tagging. Figure 2. Pulsed I-V characteristics of CPD Cathode The SEM image the cathode pellet is shown in Fig. 1.The pores have a triangular geometry with hexagonal distribution 978-1-4799-5772-9/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE around the circumference of each wire. The average pore size is found to be about 11μm when the triangle is replaced with an effective circle of same area. The cathodes were tested in an analytical system comprising of: (a) anode for emission measurements and (b) Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) system for surface analysis. The I-V plots are shown in Fig. 2. The emission is about twice that of a conventional B-type cathode for the same temperatures. This is attributed to high Ba/W and O/W ratios on the surface as compared to those of a B-type. Miram curves generated, out of pulse emission data, exhibited a better temperature limited and fully space charge limited (TL-FSCL) transition at lower FSCL current densities and, also, a lower patchiness of emission as compared to those of a B-type. Figure 3. Histograms representing percentage area (of different coverage) with wire radius A code “CPD CALCULATOR” which is a graphical user interface (GUI) has been developed using MATLAB software, incorporating the diffusion dynamics, to graphically appreciate the steady state Ba spread. These studies show that the barium coverage falls exponentially from the pore edge [3]. To obtain a large fraction of area with the required minimum coverage (θ), the inter-pore distance should be comparable to the diffusion length. A model has been developed to estimate the optimum wire size for a good performance. The results are shown in Fig. 3 in the form of histogram. It can be seen that there is no added advantage if we go for wire size lower than that 20 μm. For wire size greater than 40 μm, though a large area is well covered (θ>0.7), the pore size would be greater than that of B-type, resulting in high evaporation.

Changes in soil organic carbon, dehydrogenase activity, nutrient availability and leaf nutrient concentrations in a mango orchard soil was evaluated from four years (2007-2011) field experiment on a Typic Ustocrepts soil of subtropical region in Lucknow, India. Organic (FYM, vermicompost, mulching, Azotobacter, PSM and Trichoderma harzianum) and inorganic (N, P, K) substrates were applied each year within the tree basin. It was observed that soil and leaf nutrients concentrations significantly increased in organic and inorganic amended soils as compared to control. Vermicompost, organic mulching and microbial inoculation significantly enhanced soil organic carbon content, available nutrients, dehydrogenase activity and leaf nutrient concentrations. Dehydrogenase activity was highest (1.85 ìg TPF g-1 h-1) in organically treated soils. Surface soil (0-10 cm depth) showed higher dehydrogenase activity (1.29 to 1.85 ìg TPF g-1 h-1) as compared to lower soil depths in all the treatments.

Analysis of insecticides in body fluids is the choice of research from very long time before to know the impact of its on living beings. The analytical methods of insecticides have been improved in last few years by advance and sophisticated techniques. The analysis of insecticides in urine and visceral samples are preferred among other body fluids as drugs and its metabolites found in urine are usually stable and are present in higher concentration as compared to other biological fluids. These are also detectable for a relatively longer period of time. Several techniques for the qualitative as well as quantitative analysis of insecticides are reviewed in this paper ranging from conventional chromatographic methods to the modern GC-MS methods, in order to suggest a better, efficient, fast and result oriented method that can be utilized in future work of analysis.

Copyright: © 2014 Mishra A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Heavy metals are natural components of the earth’s crust and as such are the oldest toxins known to humans, having been used for thousands of years. Potential exposures to heavy metals include natural sources (e.g.: groundwater, metal ores), industrial processes, commercial products, folk remedies, and contaminated food and herbal products. Virtually all heavy metals are toxic in sufficient quantities.

This chapter presents the analysis of a solar distillation system with phase change material storage system. There is always a scarcity of clean and pure drinking water in many developing countries. Water from various sources is often brackish (i.e. contain dissolved salts) and/or contains harmful bacteria and therefore, cannot be used for drinking purpose. In addition, there are many coastal areas where seawater is abundant but potable water is not available in sufficient quantity. Apart from drinking purpose, pure water is also useful for health and industrial purposes such as hospitals, schools and batteries etc. Many parts of India, particularly, rural areas, coastal areas and many urban areas too, have a major drinking water problem. Sufficient drinking water, at accepted purity level, is just not available.

We report the facile fabrication of a self-reporting, highly sensitive and selective optical urea nanobiosensor using chitosan-g-polypyrrole (CHIT-g-PPy) nanomicelles as a sensing platform. Urease was immobilized on the spherical micellar surface to create an ultrasensitive self-reporting nanobiosystem for urea. The resulting nanostructures show monodisperse size distributions before and after enzyme loading. The critical micelle concentration of the enzyme-immobilized polymer nanostructure was measured to be 0.49 mg/L in phosphate buffer at pH 7.4. The nanobiosensor had a linear optical response to urea concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 30 mM with a response time of a few seconds. This promising approach provides a novel methodology for self-reporting bioassembly over nanostructure polymer micelles and furnishes the basis for fabrication of sensitive and efficient optical nanobiosensors.

We describe a new heuristic for detecting bad cycles (reachable cycles that are not confined within one or another designated sets of model states), a fundamental operation for model-checking algorithms. It is a variation on a standard implementation of the Emerson-Lei algorithm, which our experimental data suggests can result in a significant speed-up for verification runs that pass. We conclude that this heuristic can be used to advantage on “mature” designs for which the anticipated result of the verification is pass.

Zusammenfassung Ziel: Es wurden radiozytotoxische Effekte von 16α-[125l]-lodöstradi- ol-3,17ß ü 125 I]E) an MCF-7-Mammakarzinom-Zellen in Abhängigkeit von der Inkubationszeit in dem Zeitraum zwischen 1 und 24 h untersucht. Methoden: Der Rezeptorstatus der Zellen wurde durch immunhisto- chemische Färbung bestimmt. Die Akkumulation von [125|]E wurde in Gegenwart und Abwesenheit von nichtradioaktivem Östradiol sowie [127I]E und in Östrogenrezeptor (ER)-negativen im Vergleich zu ER-positiven Zellen getestet. Die Ermittlung der subzellulären Verteilung erfolgte in 0,25 M Saccharose durch Ultrazentrifugation. Die Radiozytotoxizität wurde unter den verschiedenen Versuchsbedingungen durch Standard- Kolonie-Assays nach Inkubation mit [125I]E (1.85 kBq/ml-55.5 kBq/ml) für 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 und 24 h ermittelt. Ergebnisse: Eine deutliche Zytotoxizität wurde nur bei Inkubation ER-positiver Zellen mit [125I]E gefunden. Das Maximum lag bei einer Reduktion der Überlebensfraktion auf 20-25% bei Radioaktivitätskonzentrationen im Inkubationsmedium von >37 kBq/ml. Diese maximalen Effekte wurden nach Inkubationszeiten von 8 h gefunden. Eine Verlängerung der Inkubationszeit führte zu keiner weiteren Verstärkung der Toxizität. Schlußfolgerungen: Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß die Radioaktivität an die Östrogenrezeptoren gebunden wurde. Infolge ihrer Kernlokalisation haben Radioöstrogene, die sehr niederenergetische Elektronen (Auger-Elektronen) emittieren, therapeutische Relevanz durch ER-vermittelte Entfaltung zellinaktivierender, ionisierender Strahlung ohne Beeinflussung benachbarter Zellen. Allerdings sollte anstelle von 125l das kürzerlebige 123l zur Markierung zum Einsatz kommen, da die entscheidenden Strahleneffekte innerhalb von 8 h erfolgen.

Zusammenfassung Ziel: Es sollten Einflußmöglichkeiten auf die Bioverteilung einer tumoraffinen 153Sm-Zubereitung, von Samarium-153 Nitrilotriazetat (NTA), getestet werden. Methoden: Es wurden Tierexperimente an tumortragenden Mäusen nach Zusatzapplikation von EDTMP (Ethylendiamintetra-methylenphosphonat) zur Reduktion der extratumoralen Leber-Radioaktivität bzw. stabilem Yttriumchlorid zur Verminderung unerwünschter Untergrund-Radioaktivität im Knochen durchgeführt. Ebenfalls wurde die Kombination beider Maßnahmen getestet. Ergebnisse: Die Bioverteilung der 153Sm-NTA-Kontrollgruppe zeigte 24 h p.i. eine Tumoraktivität von nur ca 0.72%/g. Die EDTMP-Zusatzapplikation bewirkte eine dosisabhängige Senkung der Untergrundaktivität in der Leber, besonders bei gleichzeitiger Gabe oder Präapplikation. Die zusätzliche Gabe stabilen Yttriumsalzes reduzierte die Knochen-Radioaktivität bei gleichzeitiger Erhöhung der Leber- sowie Milz-Radioaktivität und praktisch gleichbleibender Tumoraktivität. Die kombinierte Anwendung von EDTMP gemeinsam mit YCI3 führte zu einer Reduktion der Leberaktivität bei gleichzeitiger Verminderung der Knochenaktivität und unveränderter Tumorakkumulation. Schlußfolgerungen: Die Background-Radioakti-vität kann bei gleichbleibender Tumorradioaktivität durch kombinierte Na-EDTMP/YCI3-Applikation reduziert werden. Die vorliegenden Ergebnisse lassen aber wegen der geringen Tumorspeicherung keine therapeutische Nutzung zu.

Saccharin, a low calorie artificial sweetener was found as a new diluent / adulterant present along with paracetamol and phenacetin in an illicit methaqualone sample. All these components were simultaneously analyzed by the proposed reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography method using C18 column using acetonitrile: water (90:10 v/v) as mobile phase with a flow rate of 1mL / min. The percentages of saccharin, phenacetin, paracetamol and methaqualone in illicit drug sample were found to be 15.0, 45.6, 25.1 and 12.0 respectively. The method was validated for limit of detection, limit of quantification, linearity, accuracy, precision and reproducibility with the help of the exhibit and simulated samples. The proposed method is simple, accurate and fast. It can be applied to the routine analysis of illicit methaqualone samples as well as for their impurity profiles for tracing the origin.

Nux-vomica is a tropical plant that contains two ergot alkaloids i.e. strychnine and brucine which have pharmaceutical and toxic properties. In some places, for example in India, Nux-vomica is used in ayurvedic preparations in homeopathic medicine. As both compounds are toxic monitoring is required. In this work a method for the chromatographic determination of strychnine and brucine in various herbal/ayurvedic sample preparations, homeopathic medicines, containing Nux-vomica, seeds of Nux-vomica as well as in spiked serum and real urine samples are described. The method involves a direct injection micellar liquid chromatography technique that was optimised under ICH guidelines. Optimum conditions are a mobile phase composed by 0.10 M SDS-pentanol 4% (v/v)-NaH2PO4 buffered at pH 3 with UV detection at 258 nm, flow rate of 1 mL min−1, and temperature 25 °C. Under these conditions strychnine and brucine were analyzed in 15 and 11 min, respectively. Validation studies using ICH guidelines were performed to show that the proposed method was linear (r2 > 0.9997), with LODs (0.18 and 0.09) and LOQs (0.69 and 0.35), for strycnine and brucine, respectively. Repeatability intra- and inter-day was below of 2.50. The developed method can be useful for analyzing strychnine and brucine for quality control and other related forensic and clinical cases.

ZusammenfassungEs wurden die Unterschiede der Yttrium-Biokinetik an männlichen, tumortragenden Mäusen bei Variationen der Applikationsart (intraperitoneal bzw. intratumoral) und des Tumortyps (Mammakarzinom, Melanom) nach Applikation von 87Y-Zitrat und eines 87Y-NTA-EDTMP-Ca-Gemisches untersucht. Die Applikation des 87Y als NTA-EDTMP-Ca-Zubereitung führte im Vergleich zur bisher applizierten Zitrat-form zu einer ähnlichen Radionuklidanreicherung im Tumor bei deutlich günstigeren Tumor/Untergrund-Verhältnissen. Melanome zeigten dabei eine 2-3fach höhere Radionuklidanreicherung als Mammakarzinome. Intratumorale Applikationen führten zu hohen Initialaktivitäten im Tumor; danach stellten sich etwa 4 h p. i. im Tumor Radioaktivitätskonzentrationen ein, die mit denen nach intraperitonealer Applikation vergleichbar waren. Die Applikation des EDTMP-haltigen Gemisches verspricht im Vergleich zur herkömmlichen Zitratform höhere Strahlendosen im Tumor bezogen auf die Ganzkörper-Strahlenexposition. Die Konsequenzen für eine mögliche Tumortherapie werden weiter untersucht.

ZusammenfassungNachdem gezeigt wurde, daß die Applikationsform 87Y-NTA-EDTMP-Ca der bisher verwendeten Zitratform des Yttriums insbesondere hinsichtlich der Tumor/Leber- und Tumor/Femur-Verhältnisse überlegen ist, wurden die Zusammenhänge zwischen der Konzentration der Komponenten in dem 87Y-NTA-EDTMP-Ca-Gemisch und der Veränderung der 87Y-Biokinetik an tumortragenden Mäusen untersucht. Die Erhöhung der EDTMP- und Ca2+-Konzentrationen verursachten keine signifikanten Veränderungen der Tumorradioaktivität, aber eine deutliche Verringerung der Radioaktivität in Leber und Milz bzw. Knochen. Die Erhöhung der NTA-Konzentration führte auch zu einer Abnahme der Radioaktivität in allen untersuchten Organen und Geweben (im Tumor nach Applikation relativ hoher NTA-Mengen). Die Betrachtungen der Tumor/Untergrund-Verhältnisse in Abhängigkeit unterschiedlicher Zusammensetzungen des Injektionsgemisches zeigten, daß es möglich ist, die Bioverteilung des Radionuklids zu optimieren.

The present investigation was undertaken to studythe ultra-structural changes in thymus following chicken infectious anemia virus (CIAV) infectionin chicks. Some thymocytes with electron-dense rings in their nuclei and few thymocytes showing chromatin aggregation were noticed in the cortex region with scarcity of the cells on 7 days post infection (DPI). At day 14, the cortex was severely depleted of thymocytes with some thymocytes showing apoptotic nuclei and some with broken nuclear fragments. The aggregations of virus-like particles surrounded by membrane like structures were also observed in the cortex region. The cortex started repopulating with thymocytes whereas some cells with apoptotic bodies were detected on day 21, whereas on day 28 the cortex area of infected group became comparable to the cortex of the control chickens after repopulation of cells. Findings of the study indicate that CIAV causes apoptotic death of the thymocytes following experimental infection.

Background: The geriatric population is defined as a population aged 60 years and above. The United Nation’s principles address the independence, participation, care, self-fulfillment, and dignity of older persons as an ensured priority. Keeping all these issues in mind we conducted this study. Objective: To access various medical and social problems and treatment-seeking behavior among geriatric population in Ghaziabad District, Uttar Pradesh, India. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted in the rural and urban area of Ghaziabad District. A total of 980 elderly interviewed on pretested protocol to find out the health and social problem of elderly. Result: In geriatric population musculoskeletal problem (59.08%), dental problem (58.77%), and problem of vision impairment (55.61%) were quite higher. The overall prevalence of diabetes and heart disease were 10% and 12.2%, respectively. In social aspect, financial dependence on family members (45.9%) was a bigger issue among elderly population. Almost one-fourth population (23.6%) reported the problem of loneliness and depression. On psychological issue forgetfulness (32.96%) was reported by person of geriatric age group. When it comes to treatment-taking behavior, approach of elderly is quite different for different morbidities. Conclusion: Elderly are suffering the triple burden in respect of high burden of morbidity, social negligence, and financial dependency. However, many of the rules and government welfare schemes are running but their impact and access to elderly need to be evaluated.

Thermionic emission microscope (THEM) is an analytical research tool to study the emission uniformity of a thermionic cathode. In this paper, the design of electrostatic lens for a multi-beam cathode (MBC) has been given using 2-D TRAK and Omni-TRAK codes. The design of single beam lens system, available with us, containing a small cathode has been modified to study large size MBC using scaling laws. The present MBC contains 19 protruding buttons contributing to 19 beamlets whose image is projected onto the screen for study. The influence of various parameters such as protrusion, diameter of button, and their interspacing has been studied. The studies prove that THEM could be used as an effective tool for the characterization of MBC.

A potentiometrically tuned-glucose biosensor was fabricated using core-shell nanocomposite based on zinc oxide encapsulated chitosan-graft-poly(vinyl alcohol) (ZnO/CHIT-g-PVAL). In a typical experiment, ZnO/CHIT-g-PVAL core-shell nanocomposite containing 0.04 V/mu M and a response time of three sec. ZnO/CHIT-g-PVAL core-shell nanocomposite could be a promising nanomaterials for a range of enzymic biosensors. European Commission FP7 (PIIF-GA-2009-254955)

To combat the global upsurge in counterfeiting of antibiotics, rapid screening tests offering identification and binary (yes/no) information are required. Cephalosporins are susceptible to counterfeiting due to high prescription rates and prices. We propose a scheme consisting of a pair of chemical color tests for the screening of cephalosporins. The first test is based on the reducing behavior of cephalosporins towards iodate and iodine under strongly acidic conditions. The second test involves alkaline desulphurization and makes the scheme highly selective for cephalosporins. Penicillins and other antibiotics do not interfere with the proposed scheme. The tests have virtues of simplicity, ruggedness, and high-throughput.

Globally, the chicken infectious anaemia virus (CIAV) has gained much importance as an immunosuppressive and economically important emerging pathogen of poultry. In recent years, the virus has been detected and isolated from poultry flocks of India. The present study reports the first sero-epidemiological investigation of the presence of CIAV infection in poultry flocks of the country. A total of 404 serum samples were collected from chicken flocks of eleven poultry farms, which contain a total of 0.34 million birds from four Northern states, suspected of having chicken infectious anaemia (CIA). Screening of the sera samples using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit revealed 351 serum samples (86.88%) to be positive for CIAV antibodies. A high CIAV prevalence rate recorded in the present investigation, along with earlier virus detection reports, indicates the widespread distribution of the virus and that CIAV should be considered an economically important poultry pathogen affecting poultry industry of India. Extensive nationwide epidemiological studies are suggested for revealing the economic impact of CIA and to initiate further research along with devising and adapting suitable prevention and control strategies especially the use of suitable vaccines for safeguarding poultry health and production in the country.

ZusammenfassungEs ist bekannt, daß nach Applikation radioaktiver Komplexe für Tumordiagnostik oder -therapie, wie 67Ga-Zitrat oder Radiolanthanid-Komplexe (167Tm- oder 169Yb-Nitrilotriazetat, -Zitrat, -α-Hydroxyisobutyrat, 90Y-Zitrat etc.) die Aktivität nicht nur im Tumor, sondern auch in anderen Organen, vor allem in Leber und Knochen, akkumuliert wird. Dieses Verhalten ist das Haupthindernis für eine medizinische Nutzung. Kürzlich publizierte Ergebnisse gaben Veranlassung, Ethylendiamintetramethylenphosphonat (EDTMP) zur Reduktion der extratumo- ralen Leberaktivität einzusetzen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß schon kleine EDTMP-Mengen (1–2 mg/kg KG) zur Verringerung der Leberaktivität um ca. eine Größenordnung ausreichen. EDTMP verursachte eine verstärkte Radionuklidelimination aus Tumor, Skelett und anderen Geweben, aber in viel geringerem Ausmaß als aus der Leber. Tumor/Leber-Quotienten > 5 sind auf diese Weise erreichbar.

Zusammenfassung 169Yb-Komplexe mit bekannter Biokinetik in tumortragenden Mäusen bis zu 48 h nach Injektion wurden gesunden Mäusen intravenös injiziert und die Bioverteilung in Organen und Geweben bis zu 672 h nach Injektion untersucht. Durch diese Langzeituntersuchungen in einem durch Tumorwachstum unbeeinflußten Tiermodell sollten zuverlässige biokinetische Daten als Basis für Berechnungen der biologischen Halbwertszeit und der Dosisverteilung in verschiedenen Organen und Geweben erhalten werden. Die Ergebnisse der Radionuklidelimination aus Organen und Geweben bzw. der -exkretion mit dem Urin zeigten, daß mindestens zwei Komponenten vorliegen, deren effektive Halbwertszeiten mit zunehmender Stabilität der verabreichten Komplexe kürzer werden. Sie liegen für die »schnelle« Komponente bei wenigen Stunden und für die »langsame« Komponente zwischen 200 und 800 h.

ZusammenfassungDiese Arbeit versucht, das Problem der unerwünschten Knochenradioaktivität nach Injektion tumoraffiner, radioaktiver Schwermetallverbindungen (Prototyp: 169Yb-Zitrat) durch Prämedikation mit stabilen Yttrium-oder Kalziumverbindungen in tumortragenden Mäusen in Dosen von 1 mg/kg Körpergewicht zu überwinden. Die Prämedikation mit stabilem Yttrium oder Kalzium resultiert in geringeren Knochenradioaktivitäten. Die besten Ergebnisse wurden erreicht, wenn die Metallsalze gleichzeitig oder bis 5 h vor 169Yb-Zitrat injiziert wurden. Andererseits wurde eine starke Radioaktivitätserhöhung um den Faktor 2-4 im RES (Leber, Milz) nach Prämedikation mit Yttrium beobachtet.

ZusammenfassungDas Komplexon CaDTPA wurde tumortragenden Mäusen in Konzentrationen von 0.05, 0.1, 0.3 und 0.6 mol/l 30 min nach Applikation von 169Yb-Zitrat injiziert. 100 µl einer 0.3 M CaDTPA-Lösung wurden zu unterschiedlichen Zeitpunkten (gleichzeitig, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 und 50 min, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 2.5 und 10 h) nach 169Yb-Zitrat-lnjektion injiziert. Die Tiere wurden 24 h nach Radionuklidgabe getötet. Ein starker Radioaktivitätsabfall, nicht nur in Blut, Leber, Milz, Muskel und Knochen, sondern auch im Tumor konnte 24h p.i. dann beobachtet werden, wenn CaDTPA innerhalb von 2 h nach Ytterbiuminjektion gegeben wurde. Danach wurde durch DTPA keine Radioaktivitätsänderung mehr erreicht. Eine Zeitphase, in welcher Yb von den Geweben eliminierbar war (Zeitintervalle 5 h). Das zeigt, daß die Yb-Inkorporation in die Zellen nach 5 h abgeschlossen ist und die Metalle intrazellulär, wahrscheinlich in den Lysosomen, gebunden sind. Verbesserungen des szintigraphischen Tumornachweises können von der Verwendung von Komplexonen nicht erwartet werden.

The study has focused on exploring the mechanism of action of Podophyllum hexandrum sub-fraction (G-001M) exhibiting90% protection in lethally irradiated mice. Currently, G-001M was assessed for antioxidant characteristics by evaluating DPPH, superoxide and hydrogen peroxide radical formation, anti-lipid per oxidation, metal chelation and total flavonoid content. To affirm cytoprotective efficacy of G-001M, plasmid DNA protection, blood WBC counts, marker for lipid peroxidation (MDA) and antioxidant status (GSH) in mice splenocytes and thymocytes were studied. G-001M, having high amount of total phenolic contents (200±10mg, w/w), exhibited dose dependent inhibition in DPPH and superoxide radical formation. Hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging was higher than standards. With pre-treatment of G-001M, plasmid DNA was also maximally restored to supercoiled form. Radiation modulated MDA and GSH values in splenocytes and thymocytes of mice altered significantly after 24 hrs and at later intervals, values were close to the controls. Radiation mediated losses in WBC counts were significantly regained (p0.001) in G-001M pre-treated irradiated mice. The above findings explicitly conveyed that G-001M has successfully minimized radiation inflicted free radicals generation and their multiplication. This activity of G-001M could be undoubtedly among one of the major modes of action in extending whole body survival in lethally irradiated mice.

The effect of gamma radiation from (60)Co source and 2MeV electron beam was studied on two fluoroquinolone antibiotics viz norfloxacin and gatifloxacin in the solid state. The changes in reflectance spectrum, yellowness index, vibrational characteristics, thermal behavior, UV spectrum, chemical potency (HPLC) and microbiological potency were investigated. ESR measurement gave the number of free radical species formed and their population. The nature of final radiolytic impurities was assessed by studying the HPLC impurity profile. Both norfloxacin and gatifloxacin were observed to be radiation resistant, and did not show significant changes in their physico-chemical properties. They could be radiation sterilized at a dose of 25kGy.

The protocol of rapid identification system consists of three chemical color reactions; two group tests for fluoroquinolone class and a compound specific test each for norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, gatifloxacin, ofloxacin, levofloxacin and sparfloxacin. The group color reactions are based on (a) Oxidizing behavior of quinolone and (b) Fluorine functional groups, both of which are characteristic of fluoroquinolone class. The compound specific color reactions are developed taking into consideration unique chemical behavior of each compound. The proposed chemical color tests have high selectivity⁄specificity, are ideal for screening purpose. The color of each test was defined by two standard color systems namely CIE lab and Munsell color. A suspected counterfeit tablet of any of the above mentioned drugs can be identified within 10-15 min using this rapid identification system.