Search

Background In clinical practice it has been observed that several patients of cured pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) suffer with lung dysfunction and these problems are less documented routinely. Prevalence of these abnormalities remains unknown. Aim of this study is to estimate the lung function abnormality and exercise capacity including diffusion capacity of lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) in cured PTB cases. Methods A hospital based observational descriptive study was carried out among 100 patients with PTB, who had been declared cured. These patients were evaluated by spirometry and DLCO to assess their lung function and were classified as normal or abnormal. Modified medical research council (mMRC) dyspnea scale for symptom assessment and 6-minute walk test (6MWT) to determine the exercise capacity was also done. Borg's scale was used for dyspnea assessment in 6MWT. Results 83 (83%) patients having abnormal spirometry, 17 (17%) had obstructive pattern, 32 (32%) had restrictive pattern and 34 (34%) had mixed pattern. 22 (22%) patients had mild decrease in DLCO, 43 (43%) patients had moderate decrease in DLCO, while only 4 (4%) had severe decrease in DLCO. More than half of the patients having normal spirometry had reduced in DLCO. Conclusion The prevalence of abnormal lung functions is high even after complete anti-tubercular treatment. DLCO could be a better tool for evaluation of lung function in these patients. There is need to strengthen the National Programme to detect and treat TB patient earlier, also there is need to formulate guidelines for pulmonary rehabilitation of cured PTB patient.

In an era of environment-friendly development plant extract-based biological techniques for synthesizing nanoparticles have gained a lot of attention over traditionally famous chemical and physical synthesis techniques. In the present study we have synthesized biogenic zinc oxide nanoparticles (BPLE-ZnO NPs) using Bryophyllum pinnatum leaf extract, compared its native properties and solar-driven photocatalytic activity with chemically prepared ZnO nanoparticles (Chem-ZnO NPs). In order to characterize and compare the Chem-ZnO and BPLE-ZnO, various techniques were used, including UV-visible spectroscopy, x-ray diffractrometry, photoluminescence spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, electron dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and zeta potential analyzer. The results revealed the formation of hexagonal wurtzite ZnO, with no significant difference between the two methods; however, the use of Bryophyllum pinnatum leaf extract in ZnO NPs synthesis resulted in reduced size, presence of biomolecules on its surface and better monodispersity than purely chemical synthesis. Further, the BPLE-ZnO NPs showed better efficiency in the solar-driven photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye compared to Chem-ZnO NPs. Under solar exposure at a dose of 0.50 mg/mL BPLE-ZnO, resulted in 97.31% photodegradation with a rate constant of 0.06 min

This article describes a 4 $\times $ 112 Gb/s digital receiver targeting long-reach (LR) channels. An SNR optimized approach is presented, which relaxes the ADC resolution requirement and the number of FFE taps without sacrificing BER. The discrete-time front end overcomes gain–BW limitations to provide 10+ dB gain at 28 GHz. A 56-GS/s ADC then converts the signal to 6-b digital consuming only 195 mW. The following DFE-FFE-based digital equalizer is capable of compensating 36-dB loss achieving a BER of 2e−5. Furthermore, TDC and ISI filter-based low-latency timing recovery meet jitter tolerance specs over a wide range of data rates from 10 to 112 Gb/s, including 28-Gb/s NRZ. The overall receiver consumes 338 mW with 3.18-pJ/bit energy efficiency.

This article presents a multiprotocol DSP-DAC-based SerDes architecture. The lookup table (LUT)-based DSP provides flexible number of taps for equalization, and soft switching driver allows 1.2-Vpp transmit swing to achieve higher SNR. The architecture employs cascaded phase-locked loop (PLL)-based flexible clocking to support a wide range of data rates from 10 to 112 Gb/s. The $LC$ PLL generates 10.25–14.5 GHz but distributes a divided version of the clock between 2.25 and 3.625 GHz with less than 140-fs integrated jitter. The local ring PLL multiplies the clock to 28 GHz but keeps the jitter less than 180 fs thanks to wide loop bandwidth. The transmitter is implemented in 7-nm FinFET consuming 175 mW with 1.56-pJ/bit efficiency.

Cerium oxide (CeO2), also known as, ceria, is a well-known n-type semiconductor material. It finds potential roles in various field applications such as catalysis, sensing and antibacterial. It is widely used as a photocatalyst for treatment of waste water pollutants, because of the variable oxidation state of cerium i.e. +3, and +4. Many reports are available in literature which deals with the synthesis and properties of CeO2. The properties of CeO2 are highly dependent on the synthesis conditions such as precursors, additives, calcination temperature and type of synthesis route. In this review article, synthesis of CeO2 by various chemical routes are discussed in detail.

Though, smoking is the leading cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease worldwide, the household air pollution due to use of solid biomass fuel is considered as a major risk factor for the development of obstructive lung disease. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of solid biomass fuel exposure on lung functions in non-smoking female population.A hospital based, descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among 140 non-smoking female patients aged 40 or more and who had been exposed to solid biomass fuel. These patients underwent spirometry to assess their lung function and were classified as obstructive, restrictive or mixed. Modified medical research council (mMRC) dyspnoea scale for symptom assessment, 6-minute walk test (6 MWT) to determine the exercise capacity and Cumulative exposure index to assess the duration of exposure were also done.All 140 (100%) patients having abnormal lung function, 4 (2.86%) had restrictive pattern, 5 (3.57%) had mixed pattern and 131 (93.57%) had obstructive pattern. Of 131 patients having obstructive pattern, 11 had mild obstruction, 49 had moderate obstruction, 39 had severe obstruction and 32 had very severe obstruction. Most commonly used biomass fuel was wood (43.57%). All the patients had shortness of breath, whereas cough was present in only 35.71% cases. 77 (55%) patients presented with a dyspnoea of mMRC grade 3 and above.Cumulative exposure index for solid biomass fuel is directly proportional to the severity of lung impairment as well as the symptom severity.

This paper describes a 4 × 112 Gb/s digital receiver targeting Long Reach (LR) channels. The discrete time front-end overcomes gain-BW limitations to provide 10+dB gain at 28GHz. A 56GS/s ADC then converts the signal to 6-b digital consuming only 195mW. The following DFE-FFE based digital equalizer is capable of compensating 36 dB loss achieving BER of 2e-5. Furthermore, TDC and ISI filter based low latency timing recovery meets jitter tolerance specs over a wide range of data rates (25Gb/s NRZ to 106.25Gb/s PAM-4). The overall receiver consumes 338mW with 3.18pJ/bit energy efficiency

Internet of things (IoT) devices such as self-driven cars and home appliances are creating massive amounts of data traffic. Obviously, such demand trickles down to every electrical interface in a network. Therefore, next-generation data centers need to evolve accordingly to accommodate the bandwidth demand of a rapidly changing world of technology. Since the channel loss is not improving at the same rate, most of the standards are adopting multilevel signaling to make more efficient use of the frequency spectrum. A 4×112Gb/s PAM-4 transmitter presented in this work is leading this trend to keep electrical signaling viable and relevant for future data centers. It introduces three techniques to enable flexibility over different protocols and achieves 1.56pJ/b (175mW at 112Gb/s data rate including clocking) energy efficiency. First, improving signal-to-noise ratio is key to achieve lower BER in multilevel signaling. This work introduces a ‘soft-switching’ H-bridge output driver to enable a 1.2V peak-to-peak differential output swing without exposing devices beyond breakdown voltage. Second, ‘flex clocking’ is achieved by combining a central LC-PLL with a per-lane sub-sampling ring PLL. This combination enables flexible clock generation to seamlessly support data rates between 10Gb/s NRZ and 112Gb/s PAM-4. This clocking architecture enables low-frequency clock distribution for power saving and is easily scalable to more lanes. Third, a DSP-DAC-based transmitter is used to support an arbitrary number of equalization taps and different modulation schemes [1]. A segmented lookup-table-based (LUP-based) implementation further reduces the DSP power.

The aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of India is around 22.73 percentage and state wise this data increases for many states. One of the major issues that contribute to this AT&C losses is the power theft. This theft becomes an important and critical issue of distribution companies for financial and technical viability in deregulated environment. In addition to that the major challenge is to get both the location and estimation of energy theft at that location. In this paper, an attempt has been made to identify the theft locations within a low voltage distributed network from a central control room with the help of sms containing the energy consumption information of individual house hold energy meters. The algorithm is intelligent enough to detect the theft by tapping or even by partial theft (pilferage) at any location.

Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of Soluneem ™ when used as an irrigating solution along with other commonly used irrigating solution sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) against Enterococcus faecalis. Materials and Methods: Microorganism used in this study was E. faecalis (Microbial Type Culture Collection 439). Test substance used was Soluneem ™, which was obtained from Vittal Mallya Scientific Research Foundation (VMSRF), Bengaluru. This study was conducted in a microbiology laboratory (Biocare Research India Pvt., Ltd. Laboratory, Ahmedabad, Gujarat) to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of Soluneem ™ (Azadirachtin) on E. faecalis. Antimicrobial activity testing was performed using the macrobroth dilution method according to the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. All determinations were performed thrice. Results: Minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was seen as 2.6% for Soluneem ™ while the same was seen at 0.1% for NaOCl. Independent sample t-test was carried out to compare the MBC of Soluneem ™ and NaOCl, which showed that there was no statistically significant difference between them, i.e., 2.6% Soluneem ™ was as effective as 0.1% NaOCl. Conclusion: Soluneem ™ showed antimicrobial activity against E. faecalis at various concentrations. It was also found that the efficacy of Soluneem ™ at 2.6% concentration and above was relatively similar to that of gold standard irrigating solution (NaOCl) on inhibition of E. faecalis.

The current global health crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, has posed an unprecedented challenge to our health systems, economy, socio-political organizations, and the infrastructure of most countries and the world. This pandemic has affected physical health as well as mental health adversely. Several recent evidence suggests that health systems across the world have to improve their preparedness in context to infectious pandemics. The research on mental health aspects of COVID-19 and other related pandemics is lacking due to obvious reasons. This narrative review article, along with our personal views, is on various current and future mental health issues in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic focusing on various challenges and suggested solutions. The aim is also to update mental health strategies in the context of such rapidly spreading contagious illness, which can act as a resource for such a situation, currently and in future. We recommend that there is a need to facilitate mental health research to understand the psychiatric aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, include psychiatrists in the task force, and make available psychotropic and other medications with special attention to the deprived sector of the society.

A 10-year-old boy reported to the dental outpatient department with a chief complaint of a labially placed upper left central incisor and wanted treatment for esthetic reasons. No history of pain, bleeding, or any swelling was reported. Clinical examination revealed that the left upper central incisor was in torsoversion, that is, the palatal side of a tooth in labial position or a tooth rotated along its long axis by 180°. There was a history of traumatic avulsion followed by replantation 2.5 years earlier. No dental treatment was taken by the child. The radiograph showed root fracture in the apical one-third area but with no periapical radiolucent changes. As the tooth was completely asymptomatic and was vital with no periapical changes, no endodontic treatment was planned. Interceptive orthodontic treatment for the labially positioned tooth was undertaken followed by esthetic recontouring with labial crown forms. The case highlights the excellent results of immediate replantation. It also highlights the need for basic education about common dental emergencies, such as avulsion, to schoolchildren, teachers, and primary health-care providers.

Background and Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the retention of various prefabricated posts and to compare them with that of the conventional cast post. Materials and Methods: A sample of 60 freshly extracted single-rooted human mandibular first premolars were sectioned horizontally, 1 mm coronal to the cemento-enamel junction and randomly divided into four groups consisting of carbon fiber posts, glass fiber posts, stainless steel posts and cast metal posts. Cast metal post was the control group. Each group contained 15 specimen. The post space of 9 mm depth was prepared using specific drill supplied by the manufacturer. Resin patterns of the prepared post spaces were fabricated for 15 specimen and were cast in nickel chromium base metal alloy. All the posts were cemented with self-adhesive resin cement and mounted in acrylic cylinders. The teeth were subjected to tensile pull-out test using a universal testing machine. The force required to dislodge each post from the teeth was recorded. The data was analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and Bonferroni test. Results: The bond strength of all the prefabricated posts was significantly lower than the conventional cast post. Among the prefabricated posts highest bond strength was obtained for prefabricated stainless steel post and lowest for carbon fiber posts. There was no significant difference in the mean bond strength obtained for stainless steel and glass fiber post. Conclusion: Though no single prefabricated post could achieve results close to the control group, most retentive among the experimental group were the stainless steel posts. However, conditions where nonmetallic posts are indicated most preferred type of post can be the glass fiber posts.

Although there has been a decrease in the prevalence and the severity of dental caries in children over the past few decades, still children from low socioeconomical status in many industrialized or developing countries are still suffering from ill-effects of dental caries. The antimicrobial effect of silver compounds has been proven by the 100-year-old application of silver compounds for the prevention and treatment of various infections. Although silver diamine fl uoride (SDF) had been used to arrest dental caries during 1970s in Japan, it was not exposed much to other parts of the world. Now in many countries a 38% (44,800 ppm fl uoride) SDF solution is commonly used to arrest caries and to reduce hypersensitivity in primary and permanent teeth. Application of SDF to arrest dental caries is a non-invasive procedure that is quick and simple to use. Reports of available studies found no severe pulpal damage after SDF application. However, it has drawbacks like black discoloration of the carious teeth and an unpleasant metallic taste. But, the low cost of SDF and its simplicity in application suggest that SDF is an appropriate therapeutic agent for use in community dental health projects. Thus, the availability of a safe, effective, effi cient, and equitable caries preventive agent like SDF appears to meet the criteria of both the WHO Millennium Goals and the US Institute of Medicine’s criteria for 21st century medical care.

This paper presents the design and Silicon verification of a 2.488---11.2 Gbps multi-standard SerDes transceiver in a 40 nm low-leakage CMOS process. The paper explores the architectural and circuit techniques used to meet the stringent requirements of the high-speed SerDes and to mitigate the performance impact of the low-leakage process. A system modeling approach is described, which is used for optimizing the architectural trade-offs. The transceiver makes use of a low-jitter LC phase locked loop to enable high-reliability system design. The design has 420 fs RJrms and consumes 30.1 mW/Gbps at 11.2 Gbps.

Enamel Hypoplasia is a defect in enamel synthesis which can be quantitative or qualitative. Hypoplasia of enamel is visible as grooves or depressions on the surface due to reduction in its layers. Linear Enamel Hypoplasia is a specific type of environmental hypoplasia and differs from genetic forms of hypoplasia in the following waysthe lesions are usually symmetrical and ring like defects involving several teeth. Several environmental factors act at different periods of time and for variable amount of time thus producing a range of hypoplasia. Linear Enamel Hypoplasia predisposes to several other problems and requires earliest attention. Multiplicity and severity of these lesions make treatment complex, hence requiring early detection to prevent further enamel breakdown and prompt treatment to prevent severe morbidity associated with this disease.

Background: The purpose of this study was to find out the demographic profiles, indications, bronchoscopic findings and diagnosis of the patients who underwent bronchoscopic examination.Methods: A retrospective analysis of 200 consecutive fiber-optic bronchoscopies was performed at RMCH from June 2015 to June 2017 to find out the demographic and clinical profile of the patients who underwent this procedure. The instrument Olympus video bronchoscope was used for the procedure.Results: Among total of 200 patients, 131 (65.5%) were males and 69 (34.5%) patients were females. 150 (75%) patients were smokers and 50 (25%) patients were non- smokers. Cough was the most common presenting symptom in 180 (90%) of the patients followed by breathlessness 138 (69%), chest pain 114 (57%), hemoptysis 80 (40%), fever 66 (33%). The most common finding is endobronchial growth in 119 (59.5%) followed by nonspecific inflammation 40 (20%), inconclusive 21 (10.5%), normal 12 (6%), suspected growth 8 (4%).Out of 200 patient biopsy was done in 65 patients (32.5%) and most common histopathological diagnosis was malignancy 42 (64.61%), pulmonary tuberculosis 10 (15.38%), Infective pathology 9 (13.8%), inconclusive 4 (6.1%).Conclusions:Bronchoscopy is a safe and useful tool for making the diagnosis of a variety of pulmonary diseases. Endobronchial growth and malignancy were the commonest findings on bronchoscopy and histopathological examination respectively. Moreover, we would like to emphasize the importance of attempting biopsy from the abnormal segment of the lung even when bronchoscopy does not show frank mucosal growth.

Induction motors are widely applied in many industrial applications. In the beginning it was primarily used in continuous speed applications for the reason that orthodox techniques for their, control of speed recognize as much costlier and full of losses. The limitation of primary DC motors is presented because of brushes and commutator, hence calling for regular care and making them inappropriate for tense environments. The convenience of SCRs, MOSFETs, IGBTs, transistors and GTOs has allowed the improvement of adaptable speed IM drives. In modern control theory, there are various mathematical models that can demonstrate induction motor based on newly employed techniques. The vector controlled IM comparable to DC motors in the self-governing torque control and fluxes to grander them in their vibrant performance. To regulate the speed of IM and to get better torque response, a new fuzzy logic based controller (FLC) is presented. A fuzzy based logic controller for IM drives is employ which would give optimum performance. FLC has received greater prominence in the power electronics area because of its vast adaptability. The actual velocity of an induction motor is compared with a reference velocity. The mistake is given through (FLC), and their outputs control the focal ratio. In this project theory of PI controller and fuzzy controller and its simulation results are talked over.

It the era of renewable energy. Now a days a lot of works being done on renewable source of energy as these are the free energy which is nonpolluting and flexible to use. Out of the regenerative sources of energy solar energy is plentiful in nature and freely available which the main criteria to use it is. But solar energy to electrical energy conversion efficiency is very low. But still solar energy is getting high importance. Due to high demand of solar power it is important to concentrate on extracting maximum solar power by implementing MPPT in the system. Here in this paper Perturb and Observe method of tracking the maximum power is compared with the Fuzzy method.

Aim: This study evaluates erosive potential of commonly used beverages, medicated syrup, and their effects on dental enamel with and without restoration in vitro. Materials and Methods: Test medias used in this study included carbonated beverage, noncarbonated beverage, high-energy sports drink medicated cough syrup, distilled water as the control. A total of 110 previously extracted human premolar teeth were selected for the study. Teeth were randomly divided into two groups. Test specimens were randomly distributed to five beverages groups and comprised 12 specimens per group. Surface roughness (profilometer) readings were performed at baseline and again, following immersion for 14 days (24 h/day). Microleakage was evaluated. The results obtained were analyzed for statistical significance using SPSS-PC package using the multiple factor ANOVA at a significance level of P < 0.05. Paired t-test, Friedman test ranks, and Wilcoxon signed ranks test. Results: For surface roughness high-energy sports drink and noncarbonated beverage showed the highly significant difference with P values of 0.000 and 0.000, respectively compared to other test media. For microleakage high-energy sports drink had significant difference in comparison to noncarbonated beverage (P = 0.002), medicated syrup (P = 0.000), and distilled water (P = 0.000). Conclusion: High-energy sports drink showed highest surface roughness value and microleakage score among all test media and thus greater erosive potential to enamel while medicated syrup showed least surface roughness value and microleakage among all test media.