Advances in real time smart monitoring of environmental parameters using IoT and sensors

People who work in dangerous environments include farmers, sailors, travelers, and mining workers. Due to the fact that they must evaluate the changes taking place in their immediate surroundings, they must gather information and data from the real world. It becomes crucial to regularly monitor meteorological parameters such air quality, rainfall, water level, pH value, wind direction and speed, temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, soil moisture, light intensity, and turbidity in order to avoid risks or calamities. Enhancing environmental standards is largely influenced by IoT. It greatly advances sustainable living with its innovative and cutting-edge techniques for monitoring air quality and treating water. With the aid of various sensors, microcontroller (Arduino Uno), GSM, Wi-Fi, and HTTP protocols, the suggested system is a real-time smart monitoring system based on the Internet of Things. Also, the proposed system has HTTP-based webpage enabled by Wi-Fi to transfer the data to remote locations. This technology makes it feasible to track changes in the weather from any location at any distance. The proposed system is a sophisticated, efficient, accurate, cost-effective, and dependable weather station that will be valuable to anyone who wants to monitor environmental changes on a regular basis.

An automatic diagnostic model for the detection and classification of cardiovascular diseases based on swarm intelligence technique

Globally, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) rank among the leading causes of mortality. One out of every three deaths is attributed to cardiovascular disease, according to new World Heart Federation research. Cardiovascular disease can be caused by a number of factors, including stress, alcohol, smoking, a poor diet, inactivity, and other medical disorders like high blood pressure or diabetes. In contrast, for the vast majority of heart disorders, early diagnosis of associated ailments results in permanent recovery. Using newly developed data analysis technology, examining a patient's medical record could aid in the early detection of cardiovascular disease. Recent work has employed machine learning algorithms to predict cardiovascular illness on clinical datasets. However, because of their enormous dimension and class imbalance, clinical datasets present serious issues. An inventive model is offered in this work for addressing these problems. An efficient decision support system, also known as an assistive system, is proposed in this paper for the diagnosis and classification of cardiovascular disorders. It makes use of an optimisation technique and a deep learning classifier. The efficacy of traditional techniques for predicting cardiovascular disease using medical data is anticipated to advance with the combination of the two methodologies. Deep learning systems can reduce mortality rates by predicting cardiovascular illness based on clinical data and the patient's severity level. For an adequate sample size of synthesized samples, the optimisation process chooses the right parameters to yield the best prediction from an enhanced classifier. The 99.58% accuracy was obtained by the proposed method. Also, PSNR, sensitivity, specificity, and other metrics were calculated in this work and compared with systems that are currently in use.

A single step and rapid protein extraction protocol developed for cell lines and tissues: Compatible for gel based and gel free proteomic approaches

Proteins are crucial research molecules in modern biology. Almost every biological research area needs protein-based assays to answer the research questions. The study of the total protein content of a biological sample known as Proteomics, is one of the highly rated qualitative and quantitative approach to address numerous biological problems including clinical research. The key step to successfully generate high quality proteomics data is the efficient extraction of proteins from biological samples. Although different methods are in use for protein extraction from a wide variety of samples, however, because of their prolonged protocol and multiple steps involved, final protein yield is sacrificed. Here, we have shown the development of a simple single step method for extraction of proteins from mammalian cell lines as well as tissue samples in an effective and reproducible manner. This method is based on lysis of samples directly in a modified lysis buffer without CHAPS (7 M Urea, 2 M Thiourea, and 10 mM Tris-Cl; pH 8.5) that is compatible with gel based and gel free approaches. This developed protocol is reliable and should be useful for a wide range of proteomic studies involving various biological samples.

Neutron diffraction andab initiostudies on the fully compensated ferrimagnetic characteristics of Mn2V1-xCoxGa Heusler alloys

Neutron diffraction andab initiostudies were carried out on Mn₂V_1-xCo_xGa (x= 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1) Heusler alloys which exhibits highT_Cfully compensated ferrimagnetic characteristics forx= 0.5. A combined analysis of neutron diffraction andab initiocalculations revealed the crystal structure and magnetic configuration which could not be determined from the x-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements. As reported earlier, Rietveld refinement of neutron diffraction data confirmedL2₁structure for Mn₂VGa andX_astructure for Mn₂CoGa. The alloys withx= 0.25 and 0.5 possessL2₁structure with Mn_(C)-Co disorder. As the Co concentration reaches 0.75, a structural transition has been observed from disorderedL2₁to disorderedX_a. Detailedab initiostudies also confirmed this structural transition. The reason for the magnetic moment compensation in Mn₂(V_1-xCo_x)Ga was identified to be different from that of the earlier reported fully compensated ferrimagnet (MnCo)VGa. With the help of neutron diffraction andab initiostudies, it is identified that the disorderedL2₁structure with antiparallel coupling between the ferromagnetically aligned magnetic moments of (Mn_(A)-Mn_(C)) and (V-Co) atom pairs enables the compensation in Mn₂V_1-xCo_xGa.

Prevalence of tuberculosis and diabetes comorbidity in patients attending secondary healthcare hospital in south India: A retrospective study

Background and Objectives:

Tuberculosis, a communicable disease and diabetes, a non-communicable disease together has a bidirectional relationship toward each other withsignificant morbidity and delayed treatment outcome. Therefore, there is a need to identify the prevalence of both these diseases in a community. A retrospective study was planned to identify the prevalence of both diseases among the patients attending secondary hospitals for 3 years.

Methods:

The study was conducted in the chest diseases department in a secondary care hospital after obtaining approval from the institute ethics committee and RNTCP. The retrospective data in the hospital register was used to identify various parameters. The data for basic demographic characteristics, number of new cases, previously treated cases, pulmonary/extrapulmonary cases, drug resistance cases, and DM/TB cases were entered in Microsoft excel and were analyzed.

Results:

The prevalence of TB among the patients attending the chest diseases department was 2.9%, 2.5%, and 3% for the years 2016, 2017, and 2018, respectively. The prevalence of DM/TB ranged between 8.5–11%, which is a lesser range when compared with many other studies.

Interpretations and Conclusion:

There was no significant difference in the prevalence between the years. The screening of one disease in the presence of the other can reduce the prevalence and improve the prognosis.

Development and Performance Evaluation of Bio-Degradable Nanocutting Fluid

Various cutting fluids are available in the cutting fluid market to provide good machining performances for metal cutting industries. Incidentally, most of the cutting fluids are synthetic and semisynthetic in nature, and although they are beneficial to the industries, they are posing health and environmental issues. Even if these cutting fluids have sufficient properties required for good machining, the major constraints associated with these fluids are their nature of nonbiodegradability and nonfriendliness to the environment. To overcome these difficulties, intense research is carried out to develop biodegradable and effective cutting fluids. In this research, a novel castor oil-based cutting fluid infused with nanomolybdenum (MoS2) particles has been developed and its various machining properties have been investigated. Various important cutting parameters like surface roughness, tool life, and cutting force were investigated using this newly developed biodegradable nanofluid as a cutting fluid. Comparative experimental studies have also been undertaken with sunflower oil blend and conventional synthetic oil. Observed results validated that the newly developed castor oil-based nanofluid improves the surface finish and tool life by minimizing the cutting force developed to the considerable extent.

Optimization of Process Parameters of Pulsed Electro Deposition Technique for Nanocrystalline Nickel Coating Using Gray Relational Analysis (GRA)

The moving parts of any mechanism and machine parts are always subjected to a significant wear due to the development of friction. It is an utmost important aspect to address the wear problems in present environment. But the complexity goes on increasing to replace the worn out parts if they are very precise. Technology advancement in surface engineering ensures the minimum surface wear with the introduction of polycrystalline nano nickel coating. The enhanced tribological property of the nano nickel coating was achieved by the development of grain size and hardness of the surface. In this study, it has been decided to focus on the optimized parameters of the pulsed electro deposition to develop such a coating. Taguchi’s method coupled gray relational analysis was employed by considering the pulse frequency, average current density and duty cycle as the chief process parameters. The grain size and hardness were considered as responses. Totally, nine experiments were conducted as per L9 design of experiment. Additionally, response graph method has been applied to determine the most significant parameter to influence both the responses. In order to improve the degree of validation, confirmation test and predicted gray grade were carried out with the optimized parameters. It has been observed that there was significant improvement in gray grade for the optimal parameters.

Association of inflammatory sialoproteins, lipid peroxides and serum magnesium levels with cardiometabolic risk factors in obese children of South Indian population

The Incidence of childhood obesity and metabolic syndrome is increasing even in rural and semi-urban regions of India. Adipose tissue mass secretes several inflammatory proteins, which could potentially alter the metabolic processes, leading to several complications at the later stages of life. With limited studies on protein bound sialic acid (PBSA) as a marker of oxidative stress mediated inflammation in obese children, this study was aimed to assess and correlate PBSA with lipid peroxidation and other cardiometabolic risk factors like Insulin Resistance (IR), serum magnesium, and high sensitive C reactive Protein (hsCRP) levels in order to provide an insight into the degree of systemic inflammation and oxidative stress. This study included 62 obese children (≥95% percentile of the CDC chart) and 60 non obese controls. This study documents significant higher levels of PBSA, IR, Malondialdehyde (MDA), hsCRP and uric acid in obese children (p<0.001). PBSA was associated with IR, hsCRP, uric acid, hypomagnesaemia. Higher degrees of oxidative stress, Insulin resistance and low serum magnesium levels were noted in obese children. PBSA and hsCRP levels were elevated and were associated with Insulin resistance in obese children of South Indian population.

Are tomorrow's doctors aware of the code of medical ethics?

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the awareness of the 'ethical code of conduct for medical practitioners' among medical undergraduate students.

SETTING

Tertiary care medical college and hospital.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study covered 172 medical students in a private medical school in Pondicherry, located in southern India. They were administered a questionnaire, containing ten scenarios, which was based on the 'medical code of ethics' as set out in the chapters on 'unethical acts' and 'misconduct' of the Indian Medical Council (Professional conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002. The students were given the option of responding with a 'yes,' 'no' or 'don't know.'

RESULTS

Only 128 (74.4%) of the 172 medical undergraduates enrolled in the study returned the completed questionnaire. None of them answered all the questions correctly. The overall mean score was 6.13 out of 10, with an SD of 1.36. There were no significant differences between second-, third- or final-year students. There was no significant difference in the performance of boys and girls. Most of the students erred in scenarios related to decision-making and communication.

CONCLUSION

There are major deficiencies in the understanding of medical ethics among medical undergraduates. Including medical ethics as a mandatory and separate subject in the first few years of under graduation can help students understand and follow ethical principles.

Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children: Clinical Profile and Co-morbidity

BACKGROUND

To study the clinical profile and co-morbidity in Indian children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A prospective analytical study of 2 years duration at the Child Guidance Clinic of a pediatric tertiary care hospital in a south Indian city using Diagnostic and statistical manual of Mental Disorders-1V based questionnaires.

RESULTS

Of the 251 referrals, 51 (20.3%) children met the inclusion criteria for the diagnosis of ADHD. M:F ratio was 6.3:1. The mean age was 5.7 years. A majority of the children belonged to middle and lower socio-economic class and were first-born children. Most children were brought up in nuclear families. History of delayed speech and language development was commonly seen in these children. Combined type of ADHD was the most common type. At least one co-morbid diagnosis was seen in 86.3% of children, and learning disability was the most common co-morbid diagnosis. The mean IQ was 90 (SD±12).

CONCLUSION

Early markers of cognitive dysfunction like delayed speech, language and social and adaptive development may be a pointer towards the diagnosis of ADHD in children. Knowledge about their sociodemographic profile and other co-morbid conditions that are associated with ADHD is necessary to fully understand the magnitude of the problem and to plan effective therapy for them.

Clinical profile of children with kerosene aspiration

Accidental aspiration of kerosene is a common problem among children in developing countries. This descriptive study involved the retrospective analysis of children admitted with kerosene aspiration in a tertiary care hospital in South India for a year. Kerosene aspiration contributed to 60.4% of poisoning cases. Boys aged less than three years and from a rural background formed a significant proportion. Tachypnoea, cough and crepitations were the predominant clinical findings. Male gender and malnutrition (weight for age <80%) were significantly associated with prolonged hospital stay.

Natal teeth in an infant with congenital hypothyroidism

Teeth erupting at birth are referred to as natal teeth. It is a common and benign finding in the neonatal period. However, they may be associated with genetic syndromes like Ellis Van Creveld syndrome and Hallermann-Streiff syndrome. We report here a case of natal teeth in an infant with congenital hypothyroidism.

Dipolar Cycloaddition of Ethyl Isocyanoacetate to 3-Chloro-2-(methylthio)/2-(methylsulfonyl)quinoxalines: Highly Regio- and Chemoselective Synthesis of Substituted Imidazo[1,5-a]quinoxaline-3-carboxylates

An efficient route for regio- and chemoselective synthesis of substituted 3-(carboethoxy)imidazo[1,5-a]quinoxalines and novel diimidazo[1,5-a:5',1'-c]quinoxalines via base-induced cycloaddition of ethyl isocyanoacetate to unsymmetrically substituted 3-chloro-2-(methylthio)/2-(methylsulfonyl)quinoxalines has been reported.

Lactic acid, pyruvic acid and lactate/pyruvate ratio in the Anoplocephalid tapeworm Stilesia globipunctata infecting sheep (Ovis aries)

Lactic acid content was found to vary among the different proglottid types of the parasite. This higher amount of lactic acid might be considered as the end product of anaerobic metabolism. The pyruvic acid level of the parasitic proglottides remained lower than lactate level. The intermediary carbohydrate metabolites, viz. lactate, pyruvate and the lactate/pyruvate ratio being indicators of high rate metabolism, their levels may notably infer the metabolic status of the parasite and also the interaction between the parasite species Stilesia globipunctata and the sheep host.

Hypereosinophilic syndrome

Hypereosinophilic syndrome is a leukoproliferative disease characterised by sustained overproduction of eosinophils. The three diagnostic criteria for this disorder are (1) Eosinophilia of greater than 1500 cells/ml, persisting for longer than 6 months, (2) lack of another diagnosis to explain the eosinophilia and (3) signs and symptoms of organ involvement. We report a 15-year-old boy who was diagnosed as Hypereosinophilic syndrome based on these criteria.

Palladium-Catalyzed Intramolecular N-Arylation of Heteroarenes: A Novel and Efficient Route to Benzimidazo[1,2-a]quinolines

An efficient new route for the synthesis of benzimidazo[1,2-a]quinolines has been developed via the palladium-catalyzed intramolecular Buchwald-Harwtig aryl amination of newly synthesized 2-(2'-bromoanilino)quinolines.

Heteroannulation of Nitroketene N,S-Arylaminoacetals with POCl3: A Novel Highly Regioselective Synthesis of Unsymmetrical 2,3-Substituted Quinoxalines

[reaction: see text]. A novel regioselective route for the synthesis of substituted and fused 3-chloro-2-(methylthio)quinoxalines through POCl3-mediated heteroannulation of a range of alpha-nitroketene N,S-anilinoacetals has been reported.

Report of an International Network of Cancer Treatment and Research workshop on non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in developing countries

The International Network of Cancer Treatment and Research (INCTR) recently organized a workshop on non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) in selected developing countries with the purpose of examining existing information relating to the pathology and management of these neoplasms, and identifying potential areas for research. This report provides a summary of the information presented and is focused primarily on the pathology of NHLs in children and adults. In most countries, the WHO classification of lymphomas was used and most participating centers included immunohistochemistry using a wide array of lymphoid antibodies as part of routine diagnosis. Some of the series had been reviewed by an external panel of experts. B-cell lymphomas accounted for 82-88% of all NHLs. The proportions of chronic lymphatic leukemia (4-6%), mantle cell lymphoma (MCL, 3-5%), and plasmacytoma (2-4%) were similar in the series presented. However, there was a significant variation in the proportion of follicular lymphoma (FL), which accounted for 15% and 11% in India and Kuwait, but less than 5% in Pakistan and Egypt. All of these frequencies are significantly lower than those reported in Western series. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma accounted for about 35% of cases in India but for more 50% in other countries, but this difference was not accounted for by an increased incidence in a single lymphoma subtype in India, but rather an apparent paucity of several subtypes (such as mantle cell and marginal zone lymphomas (MZL)) in other series. There were relatively high frequencies of Burkitt lymphoma in Egypt (7%) and precursor T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma in India (6-7%). Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) (not otherwise specified and angioimmunoblastic subtypes) accounted for 3-5% of NHLs, and extranodal lymphoma of T/NK cell type was rare (<1%). These differences in the relative proportions of NHL subtypes among developing countries and between developing countries and the rest of the world presumably arise from differences in environmental and genetic factors that influence lymphomagenesis and strongly suggest that more research in developing countries would provide valuable insights into the pathogenesis of lymphoid neoplasms.

A concise formal synthesis of alkaloid cryptotackiene and substituted 6H-indolo[2,3-b]quinolines

A five-step formal synthesis of alkaloid cryptotackiene and its 2-formyl, 11-methyl/phenyl derivatives involving conjugate addition of enolate anion from cyclohexanone (or 4-methylcyclohexanone) to bis[(methylsulfanyl)methylene]-2-oxindole followed by heterocyclization in the presence of ammonium acetate as the key step has been developed. The 11-methylsulfanyl group in the initial precursor can be either desulfurized (Raney Ni) or replaced by methyl/phenyl groups via nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction with appropriate Grignard reagents.

Reaction of alpha-oxoketene-N,S-arylaminoacetals with Vilsmeier reagents: an efficient route to highly functionalized quinolines and their benzo/hetero-fused analogues

A simple, highly efficient, and regioselective synthesis of functionalized quinolines through Vilsmeier cyclization of a variety of alpha-oxoketene-N,S-anilinoacetals has been reported. The cyclization is found to be facile with N,S-acetals bearing strongly activating groups on aniline, whereas yields of quinolines are moderate in other cases. The reaction could also be extended for the synthesis of substituted tricyclic benzo[h]quinoline, pyrido[2,3-h]quinoline, 4,7-diphenylphenanthroline, and tetracyclic quino[8,7-h]quinoline by performing a Vilsmeier reaction on N,S-acetals derived from 1-naphthylamine, m-phenylenediamine, o-phenylenediamine, and 1,5-diaminonaphthalene, respectively. A few of the newly synthesized quinolines are subjected to further transformation to afford 2-unsubstituted (Raney-Ni/Ethanol), quinoline-5,8-quinone (NBS/H(2)SO(4)), or 2-alkyl/aryl aminoquinolines through sequential m-CPBA oxidation to the corresponding (2-methylsulfonyl)quinoline followed by replacement with appropriate amines. Similarly, cycloannulation of a few 2-methylthio-3-benzoylquinolines with hydrazine hydrate under microwave irradiation afforded the corresponding substituted and fused pyrazolo[3,4-b]quinolines in excellent yields, whereas TBTH/AIBN-mediated cyclization of the corresponding 3-(2-bromobenzoyl)-2-methylthioquinolines yielded the corresponding benzothiopyrano-fused quinolines through radical translocation.

Domino carbocationic rearrangement of aryl-2-(1-N-methyl/benzyl-3-indolyl)cyclopropyl ketones: a serendipitous route to 1H-cyclopenta[c]carbazole framework

Aryl-2-(N-methyl/benzyl-3-indolyl)cyclopropyl ketones 2a-m are shown to undergo a novel unexpected domino carbocationic rearrangement in the presence of SnCl(4)/CH(3)NO(2) yielding 2-aroyl-3-aryl-1H-cyclopenta[c]carbazoles 3a-m in good yields. The possible mechanistic pathway for this interesting transformation involves a series of cascade events, (a) electrophilic ring opening of cyclopropyl ketone, (b) intermolecular enol capture of the resulting zwitterionic intermediate, (c) electrophilic dimerization of indole moieties to give tetrahydrocarbazole intermediate and its subsequent aromatization by elimination of an indole moiety and dehydrogenation, and (d) intramolecular aldol condensation of the side chain to give a cyclopentene ring. The overall transformation involves formation of three carbon-carbon bonds along with a fused benzene and a substituted cyclopentene ring in one-pot operation from simple indole precursors.