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To the Editor: Enteric fever is a major public health problem in India, accounting for more than 300,000 cases per year, Salmonella typhi is the most common etiologic agent (1), [...]

The article presents information on India's company law. It discusses that the fast track exit scheme (FTE) is a modification of easy exist scheme (EES) that offers guidelines for companies for an easy exit under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956. It informs that FTE was introduced by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) who has proposed the procedure to relax exit norms for not-for-profit companies which includes an easy exist by striking off their names from the register of companies.

Present study investigates the temporal and diurnal variations of Black Carbon (BC) and quantifies the contribution of fossil fuel (BC ff) combustion and biomass burning (BC bb) to the BC concentrations in Delhi using the Aethalometer model. The average BC mass concentration and Absorption Angstrom Exponent were 12.6 ± 8.2 μg/m3 (range: 1.73–37.0 μg/m3) and 1.30 ± 0.16 (range: 1.06–1.82), respectively. The average BC ff and BC bb mass concentrations were 7.90 ± 4.98 μg/m3 (range: 1.13–19.98 μg/m3) and 4.73 ± 5.23 μg/m3 (range: 0.21–26.85 μg/m3), respectively. The contribution of BC bb was 31.15% and BC ff was 68.85% to the overall BC concentration in the study period. The highest BC bb contribution, amounting to 52.04%, was found in the month of November (stubble burning season). The effect of Diwali firecrackers on BC concentrations was also investigated which was transient, lasted for few hours only. The probable major source regions of BC to the receptor site were Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Indo-Gangetic Plain and parts of Pakistan during monsoon season while Punjab, Haryana, and parts of Uttar Pradesh during post-monsoon season. The results revealed that the biomass burning activities in Punjab and Haryana contribute significantly to the Delhi's post-monsoon air pollution suggesting urgency to implement the carbonaceous aerosols emission abatement strategies over northern India. [Display omitted] • BC mass concentration was measured during August–November 2020. • Biomass burning events were very high during present study in comparison to 2019. • BC associated with vehicular emission was found dominant during August and September. • Biomass burning activities contributed the highest BC mass concentration during November. • Diwali firework transitorily affected the BC mass concentration and lasts few hours only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acinetobacter baumannii is emerging as a major cause of nosocomial infections particularly in high risk patients. Being resistant to adverse environmental conditions, it can stay for prolonged periods in the hospital environment. We report an outbreak in the medical oncology ward where nine patients suspected of bacteraemia were blood culture positive for A. baumannii from the two samples each, one collected through the i.v. cannula and another through the peripheral veneous puncture. The bacteria was also isolated from the environmental sources from the various samples collected. The biotype, antibiogram, cellular protein profiles on SDS-PAGE and the restriction enzyme analysis patterns of the patient isolates and the environmental isolates were similar. This points to the environment as a source of infection. With reinforcement of proper barrier nursing and use of disposable heparine ampoules it was possible to control the outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerosol particles scatter and absorb solar radiation and affect the Earth's radiation budget. The aerosol particles are usually non-spherical in shape and inhomogeneous in chemical composition. For simplicity, these particles are approximated as homogeneous spheres/spheroids in radiative models and in retrieval algorithms of the ground and spaceborne observations. The lack of information on particle morphology (especially shape), chemical composition (that govern their spectral refractive indices) and most importantly internal structure (three dimensional spatial distribution of chemical species) lead to uncertainty in the numerical estimation of their optical and radiative properties. Here, we present a comprehensive assessment of the particles' volumetric composition. The particles were collected from Jaisalmer (arid environment) and Delhi (urban environment) of India and subjected to Focused Ion-Beam (FIB) coupled with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscope (EDS). Based on analysis of #2 particles from Jaisalmer, particles were observed to be composed of Fe, Ca, C, Al, Cu and Mg rich shell with Si and O rich core as opposed to those of Delhi particles (no #3) which were observed to be with Cu and S rich core and Hg, Ag, C, S and N rich shell. Based on the homogeneous sphere/spheroid assumption, conventional SEM-EDS and FIB-SEM-EDS results, different particle model shapes [single species homogeneous sphere (SP1) and spheroid (SPH1); multiple species homogeneously mixed sphere (SP2) and spheroid (SPH2); and core-shell (CS)] were considered for simulating their respective optical properties; SSA (Single Scattering Albedo) and g (Asymmetry parameter). The effect of internal structure on SSA was found to be prominent in particles having low value of the imaginary part of refractive index (k). While the same was observed to be low (nearly negligible) for the particle with the high value of k. The particles rich in copper are found to have high light absorbing property which causes positive radiative forcing. Image 1 • Aerosol particles were collected from urban (New Delhi) and arid (Jaisalmer) environment. • Three-Dimensional characterisation was done using FIB-SEM-EDS. • Particles were observed in core-shell mixing configuration with embedded pores. • Particle model shapes were generated using FIB-SEM-EDS Results. • Optical properties (SSA, and g) were simulated using T-matrix and core-shell code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]