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Lithium is used in the treatment of bipolar disorder to manage and stabilize mood, proving effective in addressing both manic and depressive phases. In these patients, the use of lithium is associated with various thyroid disorders, such as goiter and hypothyroidism; thyrotoxicosis is a rare presentation. In this case report, we demonstrated lithium-induced thyroiditis on thyroid scintigraphy., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2024 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Biogas, as a sustainable energy source, encounters challenges in practical applications due to impurities, notably carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and nitrogen (N 2 ). This study investigates the effect of metal/clay ratio on the adsorption selectivity of porous zirconium-pillared clay adsorbents for biogas upgradation. Comprehensive analyses including nitrogen adsorption/desorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were conducted to evaluate the physicochemical properties. Adsorption properties for Zr-pillared clays for biogas components such as CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 , at 25 °C under different pressures were investigated. The ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) was employed to assess selectivity for three binary gas mixtures (CO 2 /CH 4 , CO 2 /N 2 , and CH 4 /N 2 ). Results revealed the substantial impact of Zr/Clay ratio on both adsorption capacity and selectivity of the prepared materials. For instance, the maximum adsorption capacity of gases varies as ZrPILC-4 > ZrPILC-2 > ZrPILC-8 > ZrPILC-1, whereas the adsorption selectivity for CO 2 /CH 4 separation (at 1000 kPa) varies as ZrPILC-1 > ZrPILC-2 > ZrPILC-8 > ZrPILC-4. Interestingly, the ZrPILC-8 with maximum surface area (147 m 2 ∙g -1 ) did not show maximum adsorption capacity for all the three gases, which was attributed to its lower pore volume, and basal spacing, as compared to ZrPILC-4. Amongst all the pillared samples, the ZrPILC-1 exhibited highest selectivity for all binary mixtures (at 1000 kPa), signifies increased nonspecific interactions due to its lower surface area. Its separation performance, particularly for CO 2 /CH 4 mixture exceeded that of the parent clay by 1.5 times. A significant increase in the working capacity of the prepared samples underscores the efficacy of these pillared materials in separating biogas components. This study provides valuable insights into effects of Zr/clay ratio for developing robust pillared adsorbents, contributing to the advancement of sustainable biomethane production., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: Biochemical recurrence (BCR) after initial management of Prostate Carcinoma (PC) is frequent. Subsequent interventions rely on disease burden and metastasis distribution. 68 Ga prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PSMA PET/CT) is an excellent imaging modality in BCR. However, 68 Ga is radionuclide generator produced and has restricted availability. 99 mTc-labeled PSMA could be a potential cost-effective alternative. We compared the performance of 99m Tc-PSMA single-photon emission CT (SPECT)/CT and 68 Ga-PSMA PET/CT in BCR with a serum prostate surface antigen (PSA) level of <20 ng/mL., Materials and Methods: The prospective study included 25 patients with BCR and at least one lesion on a 68 Ga-PSMA PET/CT. All patients underwent 99 mTc-PSMA SPECT/CT, and disease distribution and metastatic burden were compared with 68 Ga-PSMA PET/CT. The maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) and the tumor-to-background ratio (TBR) were computed and analyzed., Results: The mean age and serum PSA (SPSA) were 69.72 ± 6.69 years and 5.65 ± 6.07 ng/mL. Eleven patients (44%) had SPSA ≤2 ng/mL. Recurrent sites were noted in the prostate (19, 76%), prostatic bed (3, 12%), and pelvis lymph nodes (LNs) (13, 52%). Distant metastasis to bones (13, 52%), lungs (5, 20%), and retroperitoneal LNs (2, 8%) were noted. Both modalities were concordant for the recurrent disease at the prostate, prostatic bed, bone, and lung lesions. 99m Tc-PSMA could localize pelvis LNs in most patients (10/13, 76.9%). The site-specific sensitivity and specificity between the two modalities were not significantly different ( P > 0.05). TBR shows excellent correlation with SUVmax (0.783, P < 0.001). Four (16%) patients were understaged with 99m Tc-PSMA due to the nonvisualization of the subcentimeter size LNs. No patient with systemic metastases was understaged., Conclusions: 99m Tc-PSMA SPECT/CT has good concordance with 68 Ga-PSMA PET/CT in BCR, even at low PSA levels. However, it may miss a few subcentimeter LNs due to lower resolution. 99m Tc-PSMA SPECT/CT could be a simple, cost-effective, and readily available imaging alternative to PET/CT., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2024 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Co-pyrolysis of orange peel and chicken eggshell was performed for the synthesis of the composite, a co-pyrolysis technique used to promote natural fabrication and to allow the raw material elemental combination effect and the preparatory conditions such as pyrolysis temperature, residence time, and eggshell/orange peel mixing ratio, to be optimized with the response surface methodology through Box-Behnken Design(BBD). BBD involved a randomized series of 17 experimental runs, and the best optimal conditions were found with a pyrolysis temperature of 300 °C, a residence time of 1 h, and 0.5 as the mixing ratio. These conditions gave a maximum adsorption capacity of 167 mg/g for removal of the modal pollutant methylene blue. FTIR spectra of the composite showed new functional peaks of oxygenated groups, at two different bands. XRD confirmed an amorphous surface with inorganic component peaks, while SEM-EDS revealed rich defects sites along with an enhanced percentage of oxygen elements on the surface; the surface area was enhanced from 1 m 2 with unmodified peel to 64 m 2 with composite. The adsorption behavior of the composite was studied for dye removal and the adsorption behavior was well explained by the Langmuir isotherm model., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Abstract: Pineal gland tumors are an infrequent central nervous system manifestation. Their prevalence is only less than 1% of all central nervous system tumors. They generally involve children or young adults aged younger than 40 years. Extracranial or spinal drop metastases are very rare from pineal gland tumors. In this case, 18 FDG PET/CT demonstrates drops in metastases involving the entire length of the spinal as well as multiple other intracranial metastatic lesions., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest and sources of funding: none declared., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

The prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, ranking it above all other contagious diseases. The problem to tackle this disease seems to become even worse due to the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2. Further, the complications related to drug-resistant TB, prolonged treatment regimens, and synergy between TB and HIV are significant drawbacks. There are several drugs to treat TB, but there is still no rapid and accurate treatment available. Intensive research is, therefore, necessary to discover newer molecular analogs that can probably eliminate this disease within a short span. An increase in efficacy can be achieved through re-engineering old TB-drug families and repurposing known drugs. These two approaches have led to the production of newer classes of compounds with novel mechanisms to treat multidrug-resistant strains. With respect to this context, we discuss structural aspects of developing new anti-TB drugs as well as examine advances in TB drug discovery. It was found that the fluoroquinolone, oxazolidinone, and nitroimidazole classes of compounds have greater potential to be further explored for TB drug development. Most of the TB drug candidates in the clinical phase are modified versions of these classes of compounds. Therefore, here we anticipate that modification or repurposing of these classes of compounds has a higher probability to reach the clinical phase of drug development. The information provided will pave the way for researchers to design and identify newer molecular analogs for TB drug development and also broaden the scope of exploring future-generation potent, yet safer anti-TB drugs., (© 2022 Deutsche Pharmazeutische Gesellschaft.)

Carcinoma cervix spread to locoregional lymph nodes. Distance metastases are uncommon and occur through hematogenous routes in advanced stages. The common sites include bone and lungs. Another organ involvement is uncommon. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging have a crucial role in diagnosing local and distant metastasis. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/CT (18F-FDG PET/CT) is a sensitive molecular imaging modality for various cancers, including gynecological ones. We present a case of recurrent cervical carcinoma presented with cervical mass and several rare visceral metastases. 18F-FDG PET/CT is a whole-body modality that accurately localized all lesions in a single study., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2022 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Subcutaneous panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma (SPTCL) is an unusual subtype of cutaneous lymphoma and clinically appears as erythematous, subcutaneous infiltrates, and recurrent papulonodules. It is defined as a rare cytotoxic a/b T-cell lymphoma characterized by primary involvement of subcutaneous tissue-mimicking panniculitis and a predominant CD3+/CD4/CD8+ phenotype in (2005) the World Health Organization-European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer classification for cutaneous lymphomas. On metabolic imaging, these lesions are invariably fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) avid. SPTCL which presents as a breast mass is a rare entity. Here, we present a case of SPTCL presents as FDG avid breast mass and subcutaneous nodules., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2022 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL) is the common non-Hodgkin lymphoma in childhood and adolescence. T-cell LBL (T-LBL) usually manifests with an anterior mediastinal mass and disseminated disease. We present a 12-year-old girl with progressive neck swelling and dyspnea for 1 year. Fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography/computed tomography done for pretreatment staging unveiled hypermetabolic lymph nodes on both sides of the diaphragm with splenic and bone marrow involvement. Apart from these, there was the extensive involvement of the left pleura. Biopsy and immunohistochemistry revealed T-LBL. The extensive secondary pleural involvement in pediatric T-LBL is rarely seen and needs to be reported., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2022 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Background: Incidentally detected gall bladder carcinoma (IGBC) is occasionally encountered after cholecystectomy for benign gall bladder disease. Rarely these patients may present with port-site metastases (PSM) in follow-up. We retrospectively assessed the role of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) in them. We aimed to determine the clinical outcome and correlate the survival based on FDG PET/CT findings., Material and Method: We did a single-center retrospective study in IGBC patients presented with histopathologically proven PSM. FDG PET/CT was done for restaging. The metastatic burden was evaluated. Survival after PSM and overall survival (OS) were assessed in different disease groups., Results: A total of 22 patients (51.86 ± 12.04 years) were included in the study. The mean interval between LC and PSM was 336.7 ± 501.9 days. On FDG PET/CT, isolated single PSM was noted in 21 (95.5%) patients. Apart from PSM, abdominal lymph nodes, GB fossa lesion, and liver metastases were noted in the 10 (45.5%), 6 ( 27.3%), and 7 (31.8%) patients, respectively. FDG PET/CT revealed intra-abdominal disease and visceral metastasis in 11 (50%) and 10 (45.5%) patients. Nineteen (86.4%) patients died in follow-up with a median survival of 328.50 (225.25-804.0) day after PSM. Median OS after LC was 687.00 (362.50-1047.0) days. Patients with PSM plus disease (432.0 days, 255.9-608.1), extra-abdominal metastases (400.0 days, 316.9-483.1), and visceral metastases (400.0 days, 296.2-503.8) had significantly lower OS compared to isolated PSM (1763 days, p = 0.013), the intra-abdominal disease (996.0 days, 753.2-1238.8, p = 0.0340), and non visceral metastasis (807.0 days, 467.5-1146.4, p = 0.037). IGBC presenting as PSM is a distinct clinical entity. FDG PET/CT as functional imaging evaluates the local and metastatic disease burden. There is significantly lower survival in patients with PSM plus disease, extra-abdominal metastases, or visceral metastases. FDG PET/CT was an important prognostic marker in these patients and could help in management., (© 2022. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Bladder cancer (BC) is among the top ten most common cancer types globally. Muscle invasive BC has a high incidence of metastasis. Metastatic BC has a poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Here, we present a middle-aged man with oligometastatic BC, which was treated with palliative chemotherapy. He had significant clinical improvement. However, interim 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography demonstrates a rapid disease progression extensive metastasis., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2022 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Skeletal metastases of unknown primary represent skeletal metastases where primary tumors remain obscure. They usually arise from lung and prostate cancer. We present a case of a young male who presented with severe bone pains, weight loss, and generalized weakness. Fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography reveals extensive skeletal metastases, a mass in the pancreas tail, and other metastatic lesions. He had no liver or lung metastases. This case presents a rare presentation of carcinoma pancreas., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2022 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Lymphomas are common solid malignancies. They are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) and Non-HL (NHL) are subtypes of lymphoma. Lymph nodes are the most common site of involvement, though practically any organ may be involved. NHL has preponderance for extranodal involvement. Primary uterine and ovarian NHL is scarce. However, in advanced systemic disease, secondary utero-ovarian involvement may be seen. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) is a pivotal imaging modality in lymphomas. It abets in pretreatment staging, posttherapy restaging, and surveillance. We present three stage-IV NHL cases with secondary utero-ovarian involvement. FDG PET/CT as a baseline imaging modality established the disease burden and organ involvement., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2022 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Renal cell carcinoma is a common urogenital malignancy. It often metastasizes to the lungs, liver, bone, adrenal glands, and brain in the advanced stage. However, the involvement of the skin and subcutaneous region of the head and neck is rare. We report a case of a middle-aged man presented with extensive metastases to post radical nephrectomy. The nose and lower lip metastasis with submental lymph nodal mass is not previously reported. He also had metachronous prostatic adenocarcinoma. The case highlights the excellent capability of molecular imaging using fluorodeoxyglucose-positron-emission tomography/computed tomography to pick up all metastatic lesions and find metachronous prostate malignancy., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2021 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Lower yield of available diagnostic tests for tuberculous meningitis (TBM) frequently causes delay in diagnosis. Recently, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) has been used in infectious disorders such as pulmonary tuberculosis; however, it is rarely used in TBM. This study was aimed to ascertain the role of FDG PET in the diagnosis and determination of the extent of disease and prognosis in patients with TBM. After excluding unsuitable patients, 25 patients were subjected to whole-body PET-computed tomography (CT) image acquisition along with separate brain protocol with an integrated PET-CT device. FDG PET was found to be abnormal in 92% patients. Extracranial FDG uptake was observed in 80% patients. Most common extracranial site of involvement was lymph nodes (60%), followed by lung (56%), vertebral body (8%), genitourinary organs (8%), and spleen (4%). FDG PET observed extracranial involvement had 80% sensitivity and 20% specificity in detecting definite TBM cases. In conclusion, FDG PET may be a useful test in TBM evaluation.

A 59-year old female presented with a lump in the right breast for 6 months. She developed progressively increasing backache for 3 months. Magnetic resonance imaging spine was suggestive of hypointense heterogeneous signal intensity in multiple dorsal vertebrae (D3-D8) and suggestive of Pott's spine. Sonomammography suggested a lesion with irregular margin in the retro-areolar region. Fine-needle aspiration cytology was infiltrating duct carcinoma. Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron-emission tomography-computed tomography revealed mass in the right breast with axillary lymph node. FDG-avid lytic destructive contiguous lesion was noted in mid-dorsal vertebrae. Apart from it, FDG-avid lytic lesion was also noted in the right iliac bone. The patient underwent vertebral lesion biopsy consistent with metastatic breast carcinoma. This case report demonstrates rare contiguous involvement of multiple vertebrae masquerading Pott's spine., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2021 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

A 65-year-old man presented with intermittent abdominal pain for three months. Abdominal ultrasonography revealed a mass in the body of the pancreas. Moreover, abdominal contrast-enhancing computed tomography revealed a homogenously enhancing mass in the body of the pancreas. Scan findings were in favor of the neuroendocrine tumor, and the serum chromogranin level was slightly raised (111.9 ng/ml, normal <98). He had no history of vomiting, jaundice, melena, hematemesis, constipation, diarrhea, weight gain, weight loss, loss of appetite, and fever. He also had no symptoms related to the excessive production of catecholamines, such as hypertension. The patient was referred for Ga-68 DOTANOC positron emission tomography-computed tomography (Ga-68 DOTANOC PET-CT) for further evaluation. The scan was done to rule out metastatic disease or other synchronous lesions to plan surgical excision. The Ga-68 DOTANOC PET-CT revealed a pancreatic lesion with no other abdominal lesions. We noted multiple tracer avid soft tissue lesions on both sides of the neck that were not diagnosed previously. This case report demonstrates a rare case with multiple paragangliomas diagnosed by the Ga-68 DOTANOC PET-CT. This finding could lead to changes in patient management., (© 2021 mums.ac.ir All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest.

Background: Suicide is major public health issue worldwide. The educational interventions in enhancing the knowledge, modifying the attitudes, and raising the competence levels of healthcare professionals to prevent suicides have shown positive results. However, these education programs are under-evaluated, especially in India., Aim: The aim was to evaluate the effect on suicide prevention and management-related knowledge among nursing staff, attitudes, and competence for suicidal patients and their family members., Methods: A brief suicide educational intervention training program was prepared for the study participants. The outcomes of this study were evaluated through a single group pre-test-post-test questionnaire., Result: The mean age of the participants was 28.74 ± 5.73 years. Participants reported significant improvement in their attitude and knowledge about suicide after attending the training program., Conclusion: Empowering primary health care staff including nurses to identify, assess, manage, and refer the suicidal person should be considered as an important step in suicide prevention., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2020 Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.)

The adsorptive removal of natural montmorillonite (MMT) clay pillared with titanium oxide (Ti-PILC) was examined in this study to see the adsorptive remove of pharmaceutical compounds (PCs): amoxicillin (AMOX), imipramine (IMP), Diclofenac-Sodium (DIF-S), and paracetamol (PCM) from water under a batch-scale study. The post-intercalation changes in clay were investigated with various surface and structural analysis techniques. The results confirm an increase in the surface area, microporosity, and acidic sites (lewis acid) which improved and regulates Ti-PILC interactions with electron-rich PPCPs molecules. The FTIR bands for Si-OH and Al-OH show a shift in MMT, after pillaring, indicates the intercalation of Ti pillared in its interlayer space. The isotherms studies suggested the best fitting of Redlich Peterson models for all pharmaceutical adsorption data. The Langmuir adsorption (maximum) was recorded for Ti-PILC in the order: 82.68 (IMP) > 23.05 (DIF-S) > 20.83 (PCM) > 4.26 (AMOX) mg.g -1 at a fixed adsorbent dose i.e. 0.1 g·L -1 . The PCs adsorption kinetics was also evaluated by Pseudo-first-, and second-order model and results showed the best curve fitting for all PCs. Results of regeneration studies showed that modified Ti-PILC could be a low-cost cleaner material for adsorption of pharmaceuticals from water., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) is one of the carcinogenic pollutants listed by US EPA and has been detected in industrial wastewater. This study investigates the photocatalytic degradation of 4-NP with TiO 2 and boron (B)-doped TiO 2 nanostructures. The degradation on undoped and B-doped TiO 2 with various boron loadings (1-7%) was studied to establish a relationship between structure, interface, and photo-catalytic properties. The results of XRD, micro Raman, FTIR, and HRTEM show that the B doping has improved the crystallinity and induces rutile phase along with anatase (major phase). The N 2 adsorption-desorption, SEM-EDX, and XPS indicated that the B induced the formation of mesoporous nanostructures in TiO 2 and occupies interstitial sites by forming Ti-O-B type linkage. The surface area of pure TiO 2 was decreased from 235.4 to 63.3 m 2 /g in B-TiO 2 . The photo-physical properties were characterized by UV-Vis DRS, which showed decrease in the optical band-gap of pure TiO 2 (2.98 eV) to B-TiO 2 (2.95 eV). The degradation results demonstrated that the B doping improved the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 ; however, this improvement depends on the B concentration in doped TiO 2 . B-doped TiO 2 (> 5% B) showed 90 % degradation of 4-NP, whereas the undoped TiO 2 can degrade only 79 % of 4-NP. The degradation followed pseudo-first-order kinetics with rate constant values of 0.006 min -1 and 0.0322 min -1 for pure TiO 2 and B-TiO 2 respectively. The existence of a reduced form of Ti 3+ on the surface of TiO 2 (as evidence from XPS) was found responsible for enhancement in photocatalytic activity.

Chylopericardium is an uncommon and benign condition in which triglyceride-containing chylous fluid collects in the pericardial cavity at high concentrations. Usually, chylopericardium occurs due to congenital malformation of lymphatic vessels or secondary to any trauma, surgeries, neoplasms, etc. However, if exact aetiology cannot be identified, the condition is referred to as Idiopathic chylopericardium which is a very rare presentation in day-to-day clinical practice. General physical examination, routine blood investigations and various anatomical imaging modalities may give a clue in the diagnosis, however, diagnosis can be challenging as they have a variable presentation. Also, optimal treatment poses greater difficulty as it remains controversial in most cases. We report a 47-year-old gentleman who presented with recurrent chylous pericardial effusion with no history of trauma, thoracic surgeries, cardiac disease and neoplasm in the past. Lymphoscintigraphy confirmed the communication between the lymphatic trunk and the pericardial space. The patient was managed conservatively with pericardial drainage and the patient recovered is doing well at present., (© 2020 mums.ac.ir All rights reserved.)

Two-step selective photoionization of lithium isotopes is carried out in a hollow cathode (HC) discharge lamp using a nitrogen-laser-pumped homemade tunable dye laser (∼0.2  cm -1 , 7 ns, 640-680 nm). The HC lamp is developed in-house and used as a lithium ion source as well as a detector. The dark space region of HC discharge is illuminated by a dye laser exciting pulse followed by an ionizing radiation from the nitrogen laser. The high electric field (∼kV/cm) present in HC dark space is exploited for fast charge collection, produced by the simultaneous interaction of exciting and ionizing laser beams with sputtered lithium atoms, enabling the detection of photoionization signal. Photoionization signals with a high signal-to-noise ratio are obtained without using any amplifier. Effects of the ionizing laser pulse energy and the precise tuning of the dye laser on lithium photoionization signal, across 670.780 nm (S 1/2 2→P 1/2,3/2 2) transition, are studied. The fine structure of lithium is clearly identified, and its two isotopes (Li7,6) are fairly resolved in the measured photoionization spectrum. Using a saturation technique, the photoionization cross section and the number density of lithium atoms for the Li7 (P 3/2 2) excited level are also measured as 18.5±2.4  Mb, N 0 ∼1.7×10 9   (atoms/cm 3 ). The results obtained infer that HC-lamp-based photoionization is an easier and cost-effective way of selective photoionization of lithium atoms, and it can be applied for other elements also.

Context: Airway management is a crucial skill and area of concern for the anesthesiologist. Awake fiber-optic intubation (AFOI) remains the gold standard in managing difficult airway. Anaesthetizing the airway along with psychological assurance is the mainstay for Preparation of AFOI. Different topical and regional techniques have been developed to subdue reflexes and facilitate AFOI., Aim: This randomized controlled study was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of using lignocaine nebulization in addition to specific airway blocks for AFOI., Methodology: This was a comparative study conducted in 60 patients with difficult airway (LEMON score >2) and randomly allocated into two groups of 30 each. Group LB and Group NB received nebulization of 2% lignocaine 4 mL and 0.9% normal saline 4 mL, respectively. Both groups were then given airway blocks as bilateral superior laryngeal (2% lignocaine 1-2 mL each) and transtracheal (2% lignocaine 4 mL) block. Two puffs of 10% lignocaine to nose and postnasal space on each side were given in both groups. Fiber-optic bronchoscopy (FOB)-guided tracheal intubation was Performed. Vital parameters, side effects, bronchoscopy-guided intubation time and other parameters as intubation grading scale, patient comfort score, satisfaction score were recorded. Chi-square test and unpaired t -test were used for statistical analysis., Results: Statistically, no significant differences were found in hemodynamic parameters, demographics, intubation time, and intubation grading scale in both groups. However, overall patient comfort and satisfaction score was better in Group LB., Conclusion: Upper airway blocks provide adequate anesthesia for awake FOB, but when lignocaine nebulization is added to these blocks, it improves the quality of anesthesia and patient satisfaction., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest.

Development of a demountable and see-through hollow cathode (HC) discharge lamp suitable for optogalvanic (OG) spectroscopy is described. The design of the HC lamp is simple, compact, and inexpensive. Lithium, investigated rarely by the OG method, is selected for cathode material as its isotopes are important for nuclear industry. The HC lamp is characterized electrically and optically for discharge oscillations free OG effect. Strong OG signals of lithium as well as neon (as buffer gas) are produced precisely upon copper vapor laser pumped tunable dye laser irradiation. The HC lamp is capable of generating a clean OG resonance spectrum in the available dye laser wavelength scanning range (627.5-676 nm) obtained with 4-(Dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(4-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran dye. About 28 resonant OG lines are explicitly observed. Majority of them have been identified using j-l coupling scheme and assigned to the well-known neon transitions. One line that corresponds to wavelength near about 670.80 nm is assigned to lithium and resolved for its fine ( 2 S 1/2 → 2 P 1/2, 3/2 ) transitions. These OG transitions allow 0.33 cm -1 accuracy and can be used to supplement the OG transition data available from other sources to calibrate the wavelength of a scanning dye laser with precision at atomic levels.

An adult female Labrador Retriever dog was presented at referral veterinary polyclinic, IVRI in lateral recumbency with history of anorexia, high fever, severe panting, heavy tick infestation, and not responding to cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones since last 1 week. Clinical examination showed pale conjunctiva, enlarged popliteal lymph node however, electrocardiogram (ECG) report found to be normal. Haematological finding showed marked anaemia and thrombocytopenia. Parasitological examination found it to be positive for Ehrlichia canis and confirmed ticks to be Rhipicephalus sanguineus . Dog was treated with doxycycline @ 10 mg/kg for 28 days in divided dose with supportive therapy. Blood transfusion was done on second day to avoid complication. Dog showed marked recovery after 15 days and re-examination of blood revealed no parasitemia.

Reticulated foam shaped adsorbents are more efficient for the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particularly from low VOC-concentration indoor air streams. In this study composite structure of zeolite and metal organic frameworks (MOFs), referred as ZMF, has been fabricated by immobilization of fine MOF-199 powder on foam shaped Zeolite Socony Mobil-5 (ZSM-5) Zeolitic structure, referred as ZF. The ZMF possess a uniform and well-dispersed coating of MOF-199 on the porous framework of ZF. It shows higher surface area, pore volume, and VOCs adsorption capacity, as compared to ZF-structure. Post-fabrication changes in selective adsorption properties of ZMF were studied with three common indoor VOCs (benzene, n-hexane, and cyclohexane), using gravimetric adsorption technique. The adsorption capacity of ZMF with different VOCs follow the order of benzene>n-hexane>cyclohexane. In comparison with MOF-199 and ZF, the composite structure ZMF shows improvement in selectivity for benzene from other two VOCs. Further, improvement in efficiency and stability of prepared ZMF was found to be associated with its high MOF loading capacity and unique morphological and structural properties. The developed composite structure with improved VOCs removal and recyclability could be a promising material for small to limited scale air pollution treatment units., (Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Trypanosoma evansi, the aetiological agent of Surra affects a wide range of livestock and wild animals in India. In the present study, we studied intra- and inter species genetic variability in the transferrin receptor encoding gene regions (ESAG6/7 gene region) of T. evansi isolates by cloning, sequencing and phylogenetic study collected from camel, cattle, donkeys and ponies from North-Western and Central India. The nucleotide sequence variation of ESAG6/7 gene region between Indian T. evansi isolates was up to 17.7% and amino acid sequence variation was up to 31%. Twenty nine clones from six T. evansi isolates from geographical regions of India were included into Clade 1, 5, 6, 7 and 9 consisting of ESAG6 variants reported among T. evansi isolates from South-east Asia and South America. The cladogram indicated a relation between the host species and the genetic variability in the hyper-variable region of ESAG6 gene. Analysis of the Indian ESAG6 variants and their respective Clade positions presented a host specific distribution indicating homogenous parasite population in their respective animal hosts.

We report Doppler-free spectroscopy of neutral europium carried out using the saturation absorption technique. In the present experiment, Eu/Ne hollow cathode discharge is used as an atomic vapor source of europium. The Eu transition 4f 7 6s 2 (S8 7/2° )→4f 7 6s6p(P8 9/2 ) at 601.815 nm and 4f 7 5d6s(aD10 13/2° )→4f 7 5d6p(zD8 11/2 ) at 580.027 nm are investigated. The frequency separation between the adjacent hyperfine transitions as well as hyperfine structure (HFS) constants are calculated from the obtained experimental spectra. The HFS constant obtained for the state 4f 7 6s6p(P8 9/2 ) are A 151 =664.8  MHz; B 151 =293.5  MHz, and for state 4f 7 5d6p(zD8 11/2 ), the values are A 151 =7.6  MHz; B 151 =-60  MHz. These obtained values are in good agreement with the results reported in the literature using laser induced atomic beam fluorescence technique.

The present study is related to Dipylidium caninum infection in dogs. Three dogs about 1 year of age with the history of scooting behaviour and passing diarrhoeic stool containing white specks were presented before the clinicians. Physical examination of dogs revealed flea infestation and faecal examination revealed the presence of gravid segments, which were confirmed microscopically to be of cestode, D. caninum. Dogs were treated with Praziquantel@5 mg/kg body wt. orally. Dogs showed marked recovery post treatment. On re-examination after a week, faeces were found negative for any parasitic eggs/gravid segments.

Aim: Oesophagostomum columbianum in small ruminants in India is found as mixed infection commonly in sheep and goat. Haemonchus contortus, an abomasal nematode is found as concurrent infection with it. Eggs of Haemonchus and O. columbianum cannot be easily distinguished. Diagnosis of O. columbianum may only be possible if a non-cross antigenic polypeptide was available for immunodiagnosis., Materials and Methods: Somatic antigen (SoAg) of O. columbianum was fractionated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunodominant polypeptides were identified by western blotting with homologous hyperimmune serum (HIS) and experimental sera of sheep or goat infected with other helminths., Results: SoAg of O. columbianum was immunoaffinity purified. Sharp polypeptide bands of 130, 72 and 68 KDa were observed along with several faint bands of lower molecular weight. Western blot of purified SoAg of O. columbianum with homologous HIS showed reaction with all the protein bands of 17, 28, 30, 32, 35, 38, 50, 68, 100, 130, 150, and 170 kDa. For identification of non-cross antigenic polypeptide, immunoaffinity purified SoAg of O. columbianum was reacted to heterologous HIS against H. contortus, Paramphistomum epiclitum, and Fasciola gigantica in western blotting utilizing completely dry method (i-blot). Among high molecular weight polypeptides 100 and 150 kDa were non-cross antigenic and among low molecular weight except 50 kDa polypeptide, 17, 30, 32, 35, and 38 kDa of O. columbianum were not cross antigenic with other helminths., Conclusions: Hence, polypeptides of 17, 30, 32, 35 and 38 kDa as well as 100 and 150 kDa polypeptides of O. columbianum may be exploited for immunodiagnosis of the infection in sheep and goat with extensive studies on cross antigenicity.

Adverse drug reactions associated with the use of anticancer drugs are a worldwide problem and cannot be ignored. Adverse drug reactions can range from nausea, vomiting or any other mild reaction to severe myelosuppression. The study was planned to observe the suspected adverse drug reactions of cancer chemotherapy in patients aged >18 years having cancer attending Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh. During the study period, 101 patients of breast cancer and 73 patients of lung cancer were screened for occurrence of adverse drug reactions during their treatment with chemotherapy. About 87.36% patients experienced adverse drug reactions, 90.09% and 83.56% of breast and lung cancer patients experienced at least one adverse drug reaction respectively. In breast cancer patients, 41.58% patients were prescribed fluorouracil+doxorubicin+cyclophosphamide while paclitaxel was prescribed to 22.77% patients. Alopecia (54.94%), nail discolouration (43.96%), dysgeusia (38.46%), anorexia (30.77%), nausea (29.67%), and neuropathy (29.67%) were found to be very common in breast cancer patients treated with single/combined regimen. In lung cancer group of patients, cisplatin with docetaxel, cisplatin with pemetrexed and cisplatin with irinotecan were prescribed to 30.14, 24.65 and 17.81% patients, respectively. Dysgeusia (40.98%), diarrhoea (39.34%), anorexia (32.77%) and constipation (31.15%) and alopecia (31.15%) were commonly observed adverse drug reactions having lung cancer patients. Causality assessments using World Health Organization causality assessment scale showed that observed adverse drug reactions were of probable (64.67%) and possible (35.33%) categories. Alopecia, dysgeusia, anorexia, constipation diarrhoea, nausea, nail discoloration were more prevalent amongst the cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Drug safety for the patients is of paramount importance for a medical professional. Pharmacovigilance attempts to ensure the safety of patients by keeping a close vigil on the pattern of adverse events secondary to drug use. Number of medicolegal cases is at rise since last few years. Forensic sciences and pharmacovigilance need to work hand in hand to unlock the mystery of many criminal and civil proceedings. Pharmacovigilance offers its wide scope in forensic sciences by putting forward its expertise on adverse profile of drugs which may be instrumental in solving the cases and bringing the justice forth. It may range from as simple affairs as defining the adverse drug reaction on one hand to putting expert advice in critical criminal cases on the other one. Pharmacovigilance experts have to abide by the ethics of the practice while executing their duties as expert else it may tarnish the justice and loosen its dependability. As a budding discipline of science, it is confronted with several hurdles and challenges which include reluctance of medical professionals for being involved in court proceedings, extrapolations of facts and data and variations in law across the globe etc. These challenges and hurdles call the medical fraternity come forward to work towards the momentous application of pharmacovigilance in the forensic sciences. Evidence based practice e.g. testing the biological samples for the presence of drugs may prove to be pivotal in the success of this collaboration of sciences., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.)

Laser-assisted Penning ionization (LAPI) is detected in a Ne/Eu hollow cathode (HC) discharge lamp using the pulsed optogalvanic (OG) method. In the Ne/Eu discharge, doubly ionized europium excited energy levels Eu[4f(7)(P(7/2,5/2)6)] lie within the thermal limit (∼kT) from the laser-excited neon's energy level [2p(5)(P3/202)3p or 2p(8) (in Paschen notation)] lying at 149,848  cm(-1). Therefore, Penning ionization (PI) of europium atoms likely to occur into its highly excited ionic states is investigated. To probe the PI of europium, the temporal profiles of its counterpart neon OG signal are studied as a function of discharge current for the transitions (1s(4)→2p(8)) and (1s(2)→2p(2)), corresponding to 650.65 and 659.89 nm wavelengths, respectively. It is observed that PI of europium alters the overall discharge characteristics significantly and, hence, modifies the temporal profile of the OG signals accordingly. The quasi-resonant ionizing energy transfer collisions between laser-excited Ne 2p(8) atoms and electronically excited europium P(9/2)10 atoms are used to explain the LAPI mechanism. Such LAPI studies carried out in HC discharge could be useful for the discharge of a metal-vapor laser with appropriate Penning mixtures.

The separation of ethylene from ethane is one of the most energy-intensive single distillations practiced. This separation could be alternatively made by an adsorption process if the adsorbent would preferentially adsorb ethane over ethylene. Materials that exhibit this feature are scarce. Here, we report the case of a metal-organic framework, the IRMOF-8, for which the adsorption isotherms of ethane and ethylene were measured at 298 and 318 K up to pressures of 1000 kPa. Separation of ethane/ethylene mixtures was achieved in flow experiments using a IRMOF-8 filled column. The interaction of gas molecules with the surface of IRMOF-8 was explored using density functional theory (DFT) methods. We show both experimentally and computationally that, as a result of the difference in the interaction energies of ethane and ethylene in IRMOF-8, this material presents the preferential adsorption of ethane over ethylene. The results obtained in this study suggest that MOFs with ligands exhibiting high aromaticity character are prone to adsorb ethane preferably over ethylene.