Entropy generation optimization of unsteady radiative hybrid nanofluid flow over a slippery spinning disk

Entropy generation investigation of hybrid nanofluidic transport over an unsteady spinning disk is reported in this analysis. The magnetic influence, velocity slips, and thermal radiative effects are included within the flow. Ferrous oxide (Fe3O4) and graphene oxide (GO) are used as tiny nano ingredients, and water (H2O) is the base medium. The dimensional leading equations are settled to dimensionless nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) by significant similarity transformations. Then, classical RK-4 scheme with a shooting process has been initiated to execute the numerical simulation. The software MAPLE-18 is used to run the entire simulation with an indispensable accuracy rate. Several streamlines, graphs, and requisite tables are executed to divulge the parametric impact on the nanofluidic stream. Entropy generation–related figures are depicted for diverse parameters, and parametric effects on Bejan number are also analyzed. Moreover, the corresponding physical consignments like the measure of the frictional hindrance, heat transport are calculated and reviewed. The entropy generation augments for higher magnetic value but reduces for velocity slip, radiation, and nanoparticle concentration. Hybrid nanofluid gives a lower magnitude in entropy production as compared to the usual nanofluid. Magnetic parameter reduces the Bejan number, while slip factor and nanoparticle concentration amplify such effects. Heat transfer ultimately seems to increase for nanoparticle volume fraction, and the increase rate is 4.01685 for usual nanofluid, but it is 6.7557 for hybrid nanofluid. Also, the numerical fallouts address the possibility of using magnetized spinning disks in space engines and nuclear propulsion, and such a model conveys significant applications in heat transport improvement in so many industrial thermal management equipment and renewable energy systems.

A Study on the Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome and its Components among Adults Aged 18-49 Years in an Urban Area of West Bengal

Context:

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is recognized as a major epidemic of the 21^st century. People with MetS have twice the likelihood of developing and dying from cardiovascular diseases and more than seven times the risk of developing diabetes.

Aims:

This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of MetS and its components among adults who were in their first three decades of adulthood.

Settings and Design:

This was a community-based cross-sectional study among 388 subjects aged 18–49 years selected by multistage random sampling in an area of Kolkata, India.

Subjects and Methods:

Data collection was done using a structured questionnaire along with anthropometry, blood pressure (BP) measurement, and relevant blood tests. Physical activity was classified by The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form questionnaire.

Statistical Analysis Used:

Data were analyzed using the SPSS software version 16.0 and descriptive statistics were calculated as frequency and percentage.

Results:

The prevalence of MetS was 44.6% (35.4% in males and 55.6% in females) and prevalence of central obesity, elevated fasting plasma glucose, raised triglyceride, raised BP, and reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were 68.6%, 41.5%, 36.1%, 45.1%, and 64.9%, respectively, among the study participants.

Conclusions:

This research revealed the high prevalence of MetS and its components in the community. Effective primordial and primary level of prevention along with prevailing secondary or tertiary level of prevention should have been implemented to curtail the epidemic of MetS.

Clinical Profile of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: An Eastern India Perspective

INTRODUCTION

Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB), believed to precede symptomatic urinary tract infection (UTI) in diabetes mellitus, has geographical variation in microbial pattern and risk factors. However, data from the Eastern part of India are still lacking.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A prospective longitudinal study was performed over 80 otherwise healthy type 2 diabetes patients with a follow-up for one year to (1) estimate the prevalence of ASB and its association with age, gender, duration of diabetes, and renal and glycemic status; and (2) identify the antibiotic sensitivity pattern of uropathogens as well as evaluate the usefulness of microbial pattern as a predictor of symptomatic UTI.

RESULTS

ASB was prevalent in 21.25% of type 2 diabetes population in our study. Klebsiella sp emerged as the commonest cause among males. The only risk factor for ASB was found to be long-standing type 2 diabetes. There was no association with age, gender, or recent glycemic status. Bacteriuric patients with worse baseline HbA1C values were at greater risk of UTI. Female diabetic patients with ASB due to Escherichia coli had significantly greater risk of developing UTI within one year.

CONCLUSION

A large-scale prospective study reproducing similar findings will genuinely obviate the need to review recommendations on screening of ASB due to E. coli in females with long-standing diabetes and poor glycemic control. Early adoption of stringent HbA1C lowering strategy and measures to improve genital hygiene can help prevent symptomatic UTI in these patients.

Studies on comparison of the efficacy of terbinafine 1% cream and butenafine 1% cream for the treatment of Tinea cruris

BACKGROUND

In this study, 76 male patients aged between 18 and 61 years affected with Tinea cruris attending the outpatient department of NRS Medical College during a 1-year period were selected.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The patients were divided into two groups as Regimen I (n 37) and Regimen II (n 39) who were treated with Terbinafine (gr I) cream and Butenafine (gr II) cream, respectively.

RESULTS

The predominant pathogen was found to be Trichophyton rubrum in 99% of cases. Mycological cure, overall cure and effective treatment were evaluated on 7, 14 and 42 days.

CONCLUSIONS

From the study, it was found that Butenafine produced the quickest result and primary efficacy end points were much higher with Butenafine cream than that of Terbinafine cream and this difference was statistically significant (P < 0.01).

K39 strip test--easy, reliable and cost-effective field diagnosis for visceral leishmaniasis in India

OBJECTIVE

A firm diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) requires demonstration of the parasite in splenic or bone marrow aspirate. The aim of this prospective study was to assess the usefulness of K39 strip test as a noninvasive method of diagnosing visceral leishmaniasis under field conditions by testing serum antibody to the leishmanial antigen K39.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

One drop of serum/blood was applied to the sample application pad on the test strip, which was diluted with 2 drops of chase buffer solution. The development of two visible red lines indicates the presence of IgG anti-K39. In the first phase of the study (2001), a total of 200 patients (Active VL-70, ex-VL-30, healthy endemic control-20 and patients with other tropical diseases-80) were tested with the K39 strip test at the School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata. In the second phase of the study (2002), the test was applied in a remote tribal area of West Bengal where an epidemic of VL had occurred. Thirty-two patients were identified in 207 villagers of the affected area; all of them were tested with the K39 strip test.

RESULTS

In the first phase, all VL and ex-VL cases gave positive results (100%). Ten percent of the healthy endemic controls were positive. The test results were negative in all other prevalent tropical diseases (100%). The estimated sensitivity of the test was 100% and the specificity was 98.18%. In the second phase of the study, all 32 patients of the epidemic were shown to be positive. All patients were treated with sodium stibogluconate injections and they recovered uneventfully.

CONCLUSIONS

K39 strip test is ideal for rapid reliable field diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis. The test has high sensitivity and specificity but it remains positive long after treatment (up to 3 years).

Effect of addition of proton carriers in culture medium on growth and secretion of hybridoma cell line OKT3

Monoclonal antibodies (MAb) constitute the centre of all in-vitro diagnostic measures and almost all in-vivo therapeutic manoeuvres now. Production emphasis for these antibodies is having a current shift from animal-based large-scale culture to in-vitro bioreactor-based high-density culture. One of the major difficulties in high-density culture is end-metabolite accumulation in batch and fed-batch cultures in the forms of H+, NH4+ etc.. thereby reducing cellular growth and secretions. In the present study, effects of added proton carries--NAD and NADP--over and above the metabolic pools of the molecules, were examined on the cellular growth and secretion kinetics. Although NADP fortification showed a remarkable improvement in cellular growth (time dependent 200-300% improvements compared to controls) and size, cumulative MAb titre was better with NAD fortification. Combined additional loads of the proton carriers would be interesting to study in high density culture conditions.

Effect of cationic amino acid, L-lysine and its polymers on the growth and secretion of hybridoma cell line OKT-3

Apart from their pivotal roles in anabolic protein synthesis, cationic amino acids, particularly, L-lysine HCl and its oligomers, up to molecular weight 1000, showed a remarkable property of cellular growth stimulation both in vitro and in vivo. L- and D-Lysine HCl, at a maximal stimulatory concentration of 7 microg/mL of added load of the amino acid, supported a characteristic time-scaled cellular expansion in vitro, and L-lysine-mediated cell expansion in batch cultures always showed a stimulation index (S.I.) ranging up to approximately 35, compared with the matched control populations. Variable S.I. was possibly due to factors such as seeding density, type of media additives, number of passages the cells have undergone before being stimulated, etc. Beyond and before maximal stimulatory concentration of the amino acid, there is a sharp decline in the cellular growth-promoting activity of monomeric L-lysine HCl in vitro, thereby showing a clear concentration window for maximum cellular growth promotion. While the essential amino acid does not have any dedicated cell surface receptor, the monomeric and oligomeric amino acid molecule(s) possibly mediates the serum-derived growth factor-receptor binding on the cell membrane by having two cationic charge centres at two ends of the molecule. Beyond a cutoff molecular weight of 1000, oligomeric lysines did not show any positive effects on either cell division and secretion.

Bioprosthetic heart valves--replacing order with chaos: electron microscopic study

Rheumatic heart disease is a significant clinical entity in young children, especially in the developing world. One of the major long-term effects of ill managed rheumatic fever is irreversible damage to the cardiac valve leaflets, primarily on the left side. With the limited success of currently available mechanical and bioprosthetic valves, there is an urgent need for new directions in bioprosthetic valves, both in material, including source, degree of fixation, surface, bulk modifications, etc., and design. In the present paper, new proposals in the material selection and fabrication of bioprosthetic valves are proposed based on electron microscopic studies of natural valve leaflets and the pericardial surface. Current approaches for bioprosthetic valve fabrications include the wide use of the pericardium as a leaflet material. The present study indicates a need for nondestructive surface examination of pericardial sheets for the elimination of areas of surface voids resulting from gross fiber disorientation. Also, there seems to be a need for incorporation of an in situ fiber renewal mechanism in bioprosthetic leaflets to emulate the natural valve more closely. Apparently natural leaflets have built-in fiber renewal mechanism(s).

Cell culture approach to biocompatibility evaluation of unconventionally prepared hydroxyapatite

Hydroxyapatite (HA), Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2 was produced by microwave irradiation of calcium nitrate (CaNO3.4H2O) and di-ammonium phosphate in aqueous solution. The HA formation was confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. HA prepared by this unconventional route was subjected to biocompatibility assay by a cell-culture method using the hybridoma cell line AE9D6 in both conventional Dulbecco's modification of Eagle's medium (DMEM) and simulated body fluid (SBF), both supplemented with 5% fetal calf serum. HA synthesised through this unconventional method showed the presence of tricalcium phosphate which can be reduced only after heat treatment at 1150 degrees C. The HA conformed to the X-ray data index file for hydroxyapatite. Biocompatibility assays showed reproducible growth and secretion patterns of cells both in DMEM as well as in SBF, thereby indicating the effectiveness of this method for the production of biocompatible HA.

Getting higher yields of monoclonal antibody in culture

Getting higher yields of monoclonal antibody (MAb) is a problem in Hybridoma Technology which has two major bottlenecks: a) poor yield of hybridized cells, b) low cellular productivity of MAb in culture. There are three ways of obtaining high MAb yield in vitro a) Large scale culture, b) high density culture and c) enhancing individual cellular productivity in culture. Currently, the focus is on the correct synergistic combination of fortified nutrient media, bioreactor design and mode of operation. Maximization of cell culture longevity, maintenance of high specific antibody secretion rates, nutrient supplementation, waste product minimization and control of environmental conditions are important parameters for improvement of large scale production of MAb. Though, MAb yields have improved rapidly over the decade, there is a growing concern for the decrease in quality of MAb secreted. Further research is therefore necessary to take full advantage of MAb as a potential diagnostic agent for in vivo therapy.

Monoclonal antibody: high density culture of hybridoma cells and downstream processing for IgG recovery

Getting higher yields of monoclonal antibody (MAb) is a problem in Hybridoma Technology which has two major bottlenecks--(a) poor yield of hybridized cells; and (b) low cellular productivity of MAb in culture. There are three ways of obtaining high MAb yield in vitro--(a) large scale culture of hybrid cells; (b) high density culture; and (c) enhancing individual cellular productivity in culture. Currently, focus is on correct synergistic combination of fortified nutrient media, bioreactor design and mode of operation. Maximisation of cell culture longevity, maintenance of high specific antibody secretion rates, nutrient supplementation, waste product minimization and control of environmental conditions are important parameters for improvement of large scale production of MAb. Though, MAb yield has enhanced rapidly over the decade, there is a growing concern for decrease in quality of MAb secreted. Further research is therefore necessary to take full advantage of MAb as a potential diagnostic agent for in vivo therapy.