Search

Tall buildings have unique seismic challenges, particularly the P-delta effect. This can cause an increase in loads on certain parts of the structure, leading to potential instability or collapse. The solution is to use buckling restrained bracing (BRB) systems, which improve the lateral strength of the structure and control the P-delta effect. The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of various brace configurations in reducing the seismic response of a 50-story reinforced concrete structure, with a focus on P-delta effects. To achieve this, linear dynamic analysis (response spectrum analysis) was conducted using E-TAB software. The selection of bracing configuration, however, depends upon the seismic zone. For this reason, five distinct configurations (X-pattern, inverted V, forward inclined, zig-zag, and bare frame) are considered for the analysis of buildings in different seismic zones. A building model was employed to study the behaviour of a structure with and without BRB to compare the parameters of storey drift, story displacement, diaphragm drift, story shear, story stiffness, and story acceleration using E-TAB software. Results showed that both Type-4 and Type-2 braces perform similarly in several aspects in seismic zones III and V. However, Type-2 braces perform slightly better in terms of storey stiffness-Y, with a lower difference of 39-40 % compared to Type-4 braces with a difference of 49 %.

Abstract Background Tuberculosis (TB) in children is frequently paucibacillary and non-severe forms of pulmonary TB are common. Evidence for tuberculosis treatment in children is largely extrapolated from adult studies. Trials in adults with smear-negative tuberculosis suggest that treatment can be effectively shortened from 6 to 4 months. New paediatric, fixed-dose combination anti-tuberculosis treatments have recently been introduced in many countries, making the implementation of World Health Organisation (WHO)-revised dosing recommendations feasible. The safety and efficacy of these higher drug doses has not been systematically assessed in large studies in children, and the pharmacokinetics across children representing the range of weights and ages should be confirmed. Methods/design SHINE is a multicentre, open-label, parallel-group, non-inferiority, randomised controlled, two-arm trial comparing a 4-month vs the standard 6-month regimen using revised WHO paediatric anti-tuberculosis drug doses. We aim to recruit 1200 African and Indian children aged below 16 years with non-severe TB, with or without HIV infection. The primary efficacy and safety endpoints are TB disease-free survival 72 weeks post randomisation and grade 3 or 4 adverse events. Nested pharmacokinetic studies will evaluate anti-tuberculosis drug concentrations, providing model-based predictions for optimal dosing, and measure antiretroviral exposures in order to describe the drug-drug interactions in a subset of HIV-infected children. Socioeconomic analyses will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the intervention and social science studies will further explore the acceptability and palatability of these new paediatric drug formulations. Discussion Although recent trials of TB treatment-shortening in adults with sputum-positivity have not been successful, the question has never been addressed in children, who have mainly paucibacillary, non-severe smear-negative disease. SHINE should inform whether treatment-shortening of drug-susceptible TB in children, regardless of HIV status, is efficacious and safe. The trial will also fill existing gaps in knowledge on dosing and acceptability of new anti-tuberculosis formulations and commonly used HIV drugs in settings with a high burden of TB. A positive result from this trial could simplify and shorten treatment, improve adherence and be cost-saving for many children with TB. Recruitment to the SHINE trial begun in July 2016; results are expected in 2020. Trial registration International Standard Randomised Controlled Trials Number: ISRCTN63579542, 14 October 2014. Pan African Clinical Trials Registry Number: PACTR201505001141379, 14 May 2015. Clinical Trial Registry-India, registration number: CTRI/2017/07/009119, 27 July 2017.

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is a seasonal fruit and is cultivated extensively in tropical and subtropical region in India and worldwide. The fruit is processed and mango pulp is extracted in fruit processing industries and kernel is unutilized as industrial waste. Hence, in the present study focused on Totapuri mango kernel cultivar was taken to utilize for bio product development. Soxhlet apparatus with different solvents was used for the crude bioactive compounds extraction from mango kernel powder. The extracted bioactive mass was evaluated for its antibacterial activity against bacterial strains such as Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella sonnei, Klebsiella pneumonia, Xanthomonas oryzae and Staphylococcus aureuss. Further, the extracted crude bioactive compound was tested for antifungal activity against Rhizactonia solani, Curvularia lunata, Alternaria alternate and Fusarium oxysporum. The antifeedent and larval mortality of Spodoptera litura and Helicoverpa armigera activity was studied using the bioactive compound extract. The Methanol Mango Kernel extract (MeOH MK) recorded growth inhibition zone for all the bacteria tested ranging from 21±0.31 to 24±1.55 mm. At 5 % MeOH MK crude extract concentration, the fungal mycelia growth of R. solani was inhibited by 92.90 ± 0.31 %. The highest percent of antifeedent activity was observed in 5% MeOH MK extract recorded as 77.37 %± 0.75 for S.litura and 55. 1.06 for H.armigera. The crude extract of MeOH MK at 5 % concentration recorded 17.8 %± 2.2 mortality rate for S. leutira larva and 100 % mortality rate for H. armigra. The MeOH MK extract was effective as antibacterial, antifungal, antifeedent and larval mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, Thyroid is common disease that affects most of the people due to their modern lifestyle. A Thyroid ailments are the disorders that disturbs the thyroid gland which has a butterfly shape positioned at the front of the neck. The general endocrine carcinoma that may occur in the thyroid gland is Thyroid cancer. This type of cancer might not cause any indications at chief. But as it develops, it can show major signs and symptoms, such as swelling in the neck, voice changes and difficulty in swallowing. An ample effort has been given by many researchers in improving its diagnosis and prognosis. Thyroidectomy is considered as the main treatment method for thyroid problems. This research work mainly focuses on cleansing of thyroid cancer data from the UCI machine learning repository. This cleansing process involves removing the redundant values, impute the missing values, and selecting the best features from the existing fresh medical dataset by applying and comparing the various algorithms. It helps the medical practitioner to make an accurate diagnosis of the thyroid among various people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic animal bites are commonly encountered in Oral and Maxillofacial (OMF) practice, whereas bear attacks are a rare trauma situation that OMF surgeons deal with in their practice. Two case reports presented here are infrequent extensive injuries that required significant surgical undertaking. Two male victims who were mauled by bears, demonstrated injuries around the middle one third, periorbital and central face. Salient features of the injuries on these occasions were almost all degloved tissues, can be put together as a complex jigsaw. The approach taken was to clean, debride and build from deep to superficial with maximum preservation of tissues.

Since the human population is growing beyond the earth’s ability to sustain it, more people are being brought into contact with wildlife, leading to increasing human–wildlife conflict. The Asian elephant, a wide-ranging megaherbivore, is being increasingly threatened by human–elephant conflict [HEC]. Its conservation depends on identifying the causes of HEC and implement measure to mitigate the HEC effectively. We studied the drivers of HEC among five forest divisions in Western Ghats, India, that support a high density of elephants across Asia. Comparing the last six years’ data on HEC with 26 ecological covariates in the GLMM framework, we identified spatiotemporal variations and drivers of crop, and property damages and human casualties. Spatially, HEC was highest in the territorial division and lowest in those declared as Protected Areas earlier. The comparison of crop damage with covariates showed that crop damage decreased with the grass biomass index, elephant density, extent of dry-thorn, and deciduous habitats, and forest range area, while it increased with adult male % and forest range perimeter. Similarly, the property damage by elephants increased with crop damage frequency and human settlement/cultivation area, but decreased with grass biomass, forest range area, and deciduous habitat area. Human casualties due to elephants increased with property damage, ambient temperature, and forest range perimeter, but decreased with grass biomass. Overall, the decrease in HEC with grass biomass, and the increase in HEC with human settlement and forest range perimeter indicate that anthropogenic pressure that decreases the grass biomass and degrades the habitat is the likely root cause of HEC, and minimizing it would reduce overall HEC.

Background: Antimicrobial peptides are an important component of host defense against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, the ability of BCG to induce AMPs as part of its mechanism of action has not been investigated in detail. Methods: We investigated the impact of Bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG) vaccination on circulating plasma levels and TB-antigen stimulated plasma levels of AMPs in a healthy elderly population. We assessed the association of AMPs, including Human Beta Defensin 2 (HBD-2), Human Neutrophil Peptide 1-3 (HNP1-3), Granulysin, and Cathelicidin (LL37), in circulating plasma and TB-antigen stimulated plasma (using IGRA supernatants) at baseline (pre-vaccination) and at Month 1 and Month 6 post vaccination. Results: Post BCG vaccination, both circulating plasma levels and TB-antigen stimulated plasma levels of AMPs significantly increased at Month 1 and Month 6 compared to pre-vaccination levels in the elderly population. However, the association of AMP levels with latent TB (LTB) status did not exhibit statistical significance. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that BCG vaccination is linked to heightened circulating levels of AMPs in the elderly population, which are also TB-antigen-specific. This suggests a potential mechanism underlying the immune effects of BCG in enhancing host defense against TB.

Structurally diverse fused polycyclic pyrrolo[3,2-c]quinolinone/pyrrolizino[2,3-c]quinolinone hybrids were synthesized to get excellent yields via a tandem multi-component reaction sequence employing an environmentally benign solid state melt reaction involving [3+2]-cycloaddition process followed by two consecutive annulation steps. Baylis–Hillman products, used as dipolarophiles, were synthesized from various substituted aryl/heteroaryl aldehydes in the presence of DABCO and methyl acrylate, while the 1,3-dipole component was derived in situ from indoline-2,3-dione and acyclic/cyclic amino acid viz N-methylgylcine/l-proline. The structure of the unusual tandem products was unambiguously assigned by spectroscopic and XRD analysis. The products arose through the formation of three new rings, five new bonds, and three adjoining stereocenters with complete diastereomeric control.

An efficient and environmentally benign synthesis of a new class of acridinedione embedded spirooxindolo/acenaphthenothiopyrrolizidines and spirooxindolo/acenathenoindolizidines has been synthesized in good to excellent yields employing ionic liquid accelerated one-pot [3 + 2]-cycloaddition strategy. The pre-requisite starting substrates, O-acryloyl acridinediones were prepared from dimedone in three good yielding steps, while the 1,3-dipole was derived in situ from isatin/acenaphthenequinone and thiazolidine-4-carboxylc acid/l-pipecolinic acid via decarboxylative condensation. The cycloadduct possesses three stereogenic carbons, one of which is a spiro carbon through the formation of two C–C and one C–N bonds in one-pot synthetic transformation. Geometrical parameters of the synthesized compounds were calculated using the B3LYP/6-311g(d,p) level of theory. The activity of these molecules was evaluated against main protease of COVID-19 to screen them for their inhibitor efficiency. In order to get a broad understanding of the interactions of these synthesized ligands, a detailed molecular docking analysis was performed. Molecular docking analysis shows that compound 8b has the highest binding affinity toward the protein. The compound can be a potential candidate for the treatment of COVID-19.

The monomer 1-(isopropylamino)-3-(1-naphthyloxy)-2-propanoacrylate (IANOPA) and monomer 1-(isopropylamino)-3-(1-naphthyloxy)-2-propanomethacrylate (IANOPMA) were synthesized by treating 1-(isopropylamino)-3-(1-naphthyloxy)-2-propanol with acryloylchloride/methacryloyl chloride. The above esterification reactions were carried out in the presence of triethylamine. By employing the free radical polymerization method, the synthesized monomers were converted into polymers by using an initiator 2, 2′-azobisisobutyronitrile in the presence of nitrogen environment at 70±2°C. The monomers and polymers were characterized by various techniques such as FT-IR, UV, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR spectroscopic analyses. Further, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to estimate the glass transition temperature (Tg). Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) was used to estimate the molecular weight of the polymers. In addition, monomer and polymer surfaces’ morphology was analyzed using SEM analysis. As a primary application, the effectiveness of synthesized monomers and polymers was explored as antibacterial agents against gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) which were measured from their inhibitory zone diameters. Further, the synthesized polymers, poly-IANOPA and poly-IANOPMA, were utilized for the uptake ability study of heavy metal ions such as Zn2+, Cu2+, Ni2+, and Pb2+ present in water sources by equilibrium method.

Air pollution is a serious environmental and health issue in Malaysia due to the recent urbanization processes. The main sources of air pollutants are motorized vehicles in urban areas and airports and industrial activities. At the airports, NO2 is the main pollutant of concern besides aerosols particles, yet gap in data availability prevent studies to describe their patterns and quantify their effects on human health and climate change. In this study NO2 data from TROPOMI sensor on board Sentinel 5-P satellite was used to characterize the spatial and temporal patterns of NO2 tropospheric column amounts at major airports in Malaysia. The results demonstrate that NO2 amounts from aircrafts and ground traffic activities are generally higher and/or similar to the amounts found in urban areas. Total tropospheric column amounts of NO2 during the movement restriction imposed due to Covid-19 pandemic between March and April 2020 was approximately 50% lower the total emission during the same period in 2019 (representing a business as usual period). Assessing the spatial pattern and temporal variations in NO2 (both surface and total vertical profile) is important for monitoring the impact of air pollutants on climate change and human health in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]