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Main aim of this work is to investigate the influences of addition of cenosphere and specimen crack length on the fracture toughness of Al6061-SiC composites. The experimental analysis was carried out for 3, 6 and 9 wt% proportions of cenosphere with 3 wt% of SiC as reinforcements in the aluminum 6061 matrix for various crack lengths. The fracture toughness of Al6061-SiC-Cenosphere hybrid composites was estimated using compact tension (CT) specimen for the said compositions. The CT specimens were prepared, according ASTM E399 standard, for different crack length to width (a/W=0.3-0.6) ratios. From the experimental outcomes, it is identified that the fracture toughness of the hybrid composite increases upto the 6wt% of cenosphere and further increment in the cenosphere causes the decrement in the values. It is also found that the load bearing capacity and fracture toughness of the hybrid composite decreases with increment in a/W ratios of the CT specimen

Agriculture and farming have a long history. Agriculture is the main economic structure for many developed and developing countries. The modern agricultural practices affect the environment namely nutrient cycle, soil erosion, carbon sequestration, and many other ecological patterns. Organic farming is influential practice to minimize the environmental and ecological impact of sustainable development. Usage of more organic matters in agricultural practices can reduce the adverse effects on the environment by keep saving its natural cycles on recovery process and organic farming may enhance the food quality too. The organic farming may largely exclude the usage of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, growth hormones and feed additives of livestock activities. A combination of organic farming and new technologies is of utmost importance to reduce the limitations and challenges of organic farming. The innovative methods and new approaches making new trends toward sustainability farming system and enhances the agricultural productivity, and quality of life of many farmers in an environmentally friendly way. In other words, organic farming mirrors the sustainability concepts of Global Agriculture.

The present study was carried out to perceive the effects of dietary supplementation of nano-chromium on nutrient utilization and carcass traits in broiler chickens. For this, 120 unsexed day-old broiler chickens were procured and randomly allocated into four different treatment groups with three replicates in each. The control group (T0) was fed with a standard basal diet as per BIS (2007). Treatment groups T1, T2, and T3 were fed the basal diet with 400, 800, and 1600 ppb levels of nano-chromium, respectively for six weeks. Dry matter, crude protein, and total carbohydrate metabolizability were significantly improved in treatment groups T2 and T3; while organic matter and ether extract retention were found significantly higher in treatment groups T1, T2, and T3 when compared with a control group. There was no significant difference in the yield of cut-up parts (% live body weight). The supplementation of nano-chromium did not bring any significant changes in processing loss i.e. blood, feather, head, and shank, but abdominal fat was significantly reduced with increasing levels of nano-chromium. Hence, it can be concluded that dietary supplementation of 1600 ppb nano-chromium in the diet of broiler chicken improved nutrient utilization and lowered abdominal fat in broiler chicken.

Abstract Background Decreased pulmonary function and poor deglutition are a major risk factor for poststroke aspiration pneumonia. We analyzed the benefits of pulmonary training on pulmonary function, deglutition, and quality of life (QOL) in community‐dwelling, frail elderly people with chronic stroke. Method This study was designed as an open, randomized, controlled pilot trial. The participants, who were frail older adults with a history of stroke, were randomized to 2 rehabilitation groups: intervention group (n = 15) and control (n = 15). All participants (65–94 years) attended twelve 20‐min sessions twice a week for 6 weeks of either standard rehabilitation (control group) or standard rehabilitation with pulmonary training including home pulmonary exercise (intervention group). The main outcome measures were pulmonary function (%MIP), deglutition (DRACE), and QOL (SF8･PCS), while secondary outcomes were muscle strength (grip and abdominal), thorax flexibility, 6‐min walk distance, and activities in daily living. All outcomes were measured both prior to training and after the 12 sessions. Results The intervention group showed significant improvement in %MIP (95% CI, 2.9–31.6; p

Abstract Human envenoming from the bite of the abundant hump-nosed pit viper (Hypnale spp.) (HNPV) is a frequent occurrence with victims experiencing unpleasant and sometimes life-threatening consequences. Further, clinico-pathology, treatment and management measures in HNPV envenomed dogs are under recognized. Prospective investigations were performed to assess the clinico-pathology and management options for HNPV envenomed dogs brought to the University of Peradeniya’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital from January, 2012 to March 2018. We recorded the local and systemic manifestations, hematological and urinary abnormalities of 78 dogs in which HNPV bite had been witnessed by the owner. Mild swelling, extensive swelling, hemorrhagic blistering and hemorrhagic bullae at the site of bite were observed in 59%, 31%, 6% and 4% of the dogs, respectively. Some dogs were subjected to surgical excision of necrotized tissue including limb amputation. We observed the following systemic clinical effects in envenomed dogs: neurotoxicity (13%), acute kidney injury (AKI) (14%) and coagulopathy (16%). All dogs showed leukocytosis with mean white blood cell count of 25.25 × 103/µL. Mild anemia and thrombocytopenia were detected in 29% of the dogs. There was a significant correlation between extent of local tissue injuries with length of hospitalization (LH). The mean time of coagulopathy observed was 21.3 h (IQR: 8–48 h). In coagulopathic dogs, there was a strong correlation between LH and extent of local tissue injury (r s = 0.7751, P

Peptic ulcer is one of the most common gastrointestinal problems diagnosed all over the world. The aim of the present study is to develop floating microballoons of Rhynchosia densiflora (Roth) DC leaf extract and to evaluate its peptic ulcer activity. An ethanolic extract of R. densiflora (Roth) DC leaves was prepared by Soxhlet extraction and subjected to phytochemical analysis. Microballoons loaded with ethanolic extract of R. densiflora leaf were developed by solvent evaporation method and characterized by optical microscopy, floating time, and release characteristics. Acute oral toxicity study of microballons was carried out following OECD guidelines 423 and antiulcer activity was performed by pylorus ligation, indomethacin and cystamine induced duodenal ulcer methods. R. densiflora extract was found to contain glycosides, proteins, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, tannins and saponins. The particle size of microballoons of R. densiflora extract was found to be in the range of 300 μm. Acute toxicity studies of microballoons did not produce any toxic symptoms and mortality in animals, hence 100 and 200 mg/kg concentrations were selected to screen antiulcer activity. Both the doses showed significant gastric ulcer healing effect and gastric antisecretory effect in pylorus ligated rats, gastric cytoprotective effect in indomethacin induced gastric ulcer and also produced a significant reduction in duodenal ulcers. Dose of 200 mg/kg showed highly significant antiulcer activity than 100 mg/kg. Thus, it is concluded that floating microballoons loaded with R. densiflora extract significantly reduced gastric acid secretion, increased healing of gastric ulcers and also prevent the duodenal ulcers in rats. Please cite this article as: Devadath NG, Ashoka Babu VL, Basavaraj BV, Mohammad Azamthulla. Floating Microballoons for the treatment of Peptic Ulcer. Trends in Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2022;8(1):25-36. doi: 10.30476/TIPS.2021.93365.1124

Abstract—In this paper, a de-noising approach in conjunction with channel estimation (CE) algorithm for OFDM systems using singular spectrum analysis (SSA) is presented. In the proposed algorithm, the initial CE is computed with the aid of traditional linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) algorithm, and then further channel is evaluated by considering the low rank eigenvalue approximation of channel correlation matrix related to channel using SSA. Simulation results on bit error rate (BER) revealed that the method attains an improvement of 7 dB, 5 dB and 3 dB compared to common LSE, MMSE and SVD based methods respectively. With the help of statistical correlation coefficient (C) and kurtosis (k), the SSA method utilized to de-noise the received OFDM signal in addition to CE. In the process of denoising, the received OFDM signal will be decomposed into different empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) based on the singular values. It was established that the correlation coefficients worked well in identifying useful EOFs only up to moderate SNR  12dB. For low SNR

Photoinduced changes in transmission, reflection and scattering prevent conventional pump-probe spectroscopy to unambiguously assign the origin of spectral signatures. Ashoka et al. have developed an optical modelling technique to extract quantitative and unambiguous changes in the dielectric function from standard pump-probe measurements.

The objective of modern agriculture includes environmental sustainability, low production costs, and higher productivity. Biostimulants are composed of humic acids, hormones, algae extracts, plant growth-promoting bacteria, amino acids, and a chain of peptides. Black gram and soybean crops are of immense economic significance. The growth and yield of these crops are limited by supply of nutrients. The potentiation of the early growth of plants by treating seeds with these substances has been one of the adopted alternatives, which often promote physiological changes that stimulate growth. The field experiment was conducted with randomized complete block design and replicated four times. Effects of different biostimulants at different concentrations as foliar spray and seed treatment were examined on growth, yield parameters, and yield of black gram (TAU-1) and soybean (JS-335) during kharif 2020 and 2021. Results showed that foliar application of Quantis biostimulant @ 5 ml L−1 recorded higher growth, yield parameters, and seed yield (897 kg ha−1), biological yield (1209 kg ha−1), production efficiency (13.00 kg day−1 ha−1) in black gram and seed treatment with Epivio Energy @ 2 ml kg−1 fetched higher seed yield (1403 kg ha−1), biological yield (2914 kg ha−1), production efficiency (16.13 kg day−1 ha−1) along with higher growth and yield parameters in soybean. It can be concluded that they will help in achieving higher growth and yield of black gram and soybean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Asian elephant populations inhabit fragmented human‐dominated landscapes. Human–elephant conflict (HEC) has intensified in such regions, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people and elephants each year. Controversy between stakeholders then arises as people debate the merits of HEC mitigation approaches, stifling progress. We conducted a survey to evaluate the opinions of experts, farmers and others who have and have not experienced HEC (n = 611), on the causes of HEC, the importance of, conservation of and co‐existence with elephants, and on the acceptability and effectiveness of potential HEC mitigation methods. Analysis of variance and the Potential for Conflict Index showed that all groups agreed with nine of the 10 causes of HEC assessed, on average. All respondent groups had mostly positive attitudes towards the importance and conservation of elephants. However, farmers exposed to HEC disagreed that people should co‐exist with elephants and supported the view that elephants should be removed from human habitats. All groups agreed on the acceptability and effectiveness of electric fencing, early warning systems with infrasonic call detectors, Global Positioning System collars and geophones. However, there was disparity in views between the experts and other stakeholder groups on the acceptability and effectiveness of restricting elephants to protected areas, and translocation of problem elephants to protected areas away from their capture site or to wild elephant holding grounds. While similar views between stakeholders on many subjects are encouraging for elephant conservation, the disparities identified should be given greater attention when planning HEC management programs to minimize conflict between stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to single natural fibre composites, hybridising natural fibres with filler particles presents a promising avenue for enhancing composites physical, mechanical, and damping properties. This study delves into incorporating clamshell powder, a filler derived from clams' hard protective outer shells, into polymer composites. The focus is on investigating the potential of clamshell powder as a filler material to augment the mechanical and damping properties of epoxy-bamboo mat composites. The weight ratio of clamshell fillers varied from 0% to 9%, and the compression moulding method was used to fabricate the composites. As per ASTM standards, mechanical properties were evaluated by conducting tensile and flexural tests. Free vibration tests by impact hammer technique were employed to evaluate the natural frequency, damping ratio, and mode shapes of developed composites to measure damping properties. Results revealed that adding clamshell filler significantly improved composites tensile strength, flexural strength, and damping properties. The addition of clamshell elevated the tensile strength by 18.5%, and flexural strength by 24.2% for composite with 6 wt% filler, which can be attributed to the efficiency of load transfer and the interfacial bonding between fillers and epoxy matrix. SEM analysis supported the experimental results obtained. The highest damping value is received for 9 wt% filler, showing 30% enhancement compared to composites without clamshell filler. Modal analyses using ANSYS software further validated the positive impact of clamshell filler. This study underscores the potential of clamshell filler in enhancing the mechanical and damping properties of epoxy-bamboo composites, broadening their applicability in various fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, synthetic petroleum-based packaging materials have increased, and the production of plastics has surpassed all other man-made materials due to their versatility. However, the excessive usage of synthetic packaging materials has led to severe environmental and health-related issues due to their nonbiodegradability and their accumulation in the environment. Therefore, bio-based packages are considered alternatives to substitute synthetic petroleum-based packaging material. Furthermore, the choice of packing material in the food industry is a perplexing process as it depends on various factors, such as the type of food product, its sustainability, and environmental conditions. Interestingly, due to proven mechanical, gas, and water vapor barrier properties and biological activity, polysaccharide-based bioplastics show the potential to expand the trends in food packaging, including edible films or coatings and intelligent and active food packaging. Various chemical modifications, network designs, and processing techniques have transformed polysaccharide materials into valuable final products, particularly for large-scale or high-value applications. Transitioning from petroleum-based resources to abundant bio-based polysaccharides presents an opportunity to create a sustainable circular economy. The economic viability of polysaccharide-based bioplastics is determined by several factors, including raw material costs, production technologies, market demand, and scalability. Despite their potential advantages over traditional plastics, their economic feasibility is affected by continuous technological advancements and evolving market dynamics and regulations. This review discusses the structure, properties, and recent developments in polysaccharide-based bioplastics as green and sustainable food packaging materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite scarcity of data, in recent years, human parvovirus B19 (PVB19) has been emerging as an important pathogen in acute encephalitis syndrome (AES). But, PVB19 virus is mostly looked for only after the exclusion of other common pathogens implicated in AES. Hence, this study was conducted to correlate clinical, radiological, and sequencing data to establish the crucial role of PVB19 in AES. Cerebrospinal fluid and/or serum samples were collected from AES patients as per WHO criteria and tested by ELISA, real‐time PCR and bacterial culture sensitivity for various pathogens. PVB19 positive samples were subjected to sequencing. PVB19 attributed to 5% of total AES cases in the present study with fatalities in two of eight cases. Two isolates of PVB19 belonged to Genotype 1 A whereas one belonged to Genotype 3B. On multivariate analysis of predictive symptoms of PVB19 AES cases, blurring of vision (odds ratio [OR] 20.67; p = 0.001) was found to be significant independent predictor of PVB19 AES. Six of eight patients (two encephalitis specific and four nonspecific) had abnormal radiological findings. Hence, being an emerging viral pathogen, PVB19 should be included in the diagnostic algorithm of AES for prompt diagnosis and definitive management to prevent undesired neurological sequelae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-spatial resolution MRI produces abundant structural information, enabling highly accurate clinical diagnosis and image-guided therapeutics. However, the acquisition of high-spatial resolution MRI data typically can come at the expense of less spatial coverage, lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and longer scan time due to physical, physiological and hardware limitations. In order to overcome these limitations, super-resolution MRI deep-learning-based techniques can be utilised. In this work, different state-of-the-art 3D convolution neural network models for super resolution (RRDB, SPSR, UNet, UNet-MSS and ShuffleUNet) were compared for the super-resolution task with the goal of finding the best model in terms of performance and robustness. The public IXI dataset (only structural images) was used. Data were artificially downsampled to obtain lower-resolution spatial MRIs (downsampling factor varying from 8 to 64). When assessing performance using the SSIM metric in the test set, all models performed well. In particular, regardless of the downsampling factor, the UNet consistently obtained the top results. On the other hand, the SPSR model consistently performed worse. In conclusion, UNet and UNet-MSS achieved overall top performances while RRDB performed relatively poorly compared to the other models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does one understand what is a disease from the mutual perspective and how does this perspective shape psychiatric practice. This is a very complex and difficult to rationalise definition. The reason being the human being and the human mind are in itself marvellously difficult to understand. Though they say it is all about mind over matter, the concept of mind itself is nebulous and therefore characterisation of mental illness and defining it is challenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of antibiotic resistance (AR) poses a significant threat to both public health and aquatic ecosystems. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been identified as potential hotspots for disseminating AR in the environment. However, only a limited number of studies have been conducted on AR dissemination through WWTPs in Sri Lanka. To address this knowledge gap in AR dissemination through WWTP operations in Sri Lanka, we critically examined the global situation of WWTPs as hotspots for transmitting antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) by evaluating more than a hundred peer-reviewed international publications and available national publications. Our findings discuss the current state of operating WWTPs in the country and highlight the research needed in controlling AR dissemination. The results revealed that the impact of different wastewater types, such as clinical, veterinary, domestic, and industrial, on the dissemination of AR has not been extensively studied in Sri Lanka; furthermore, the effectiveness of various wastewater treatment techniques in removing ARGs requires further investigation to improve the technologies. Furthermore, existing studies have not explored deeply enough the potential public health and ecological risks posed by AR dissemination through WWTPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mee (Madhuca longifolia (Koenig) J.F. Macb. var. longifolia) is a salient economic tree spread throughout the subtropical region of the Indian subcontinent. Its seed constituents have distinctive chemical properties and thus extracted fat have distinctive nutritional and functional characteristics. This seed fat is edible and can Meet the fat requirements of a human diet in an economical way. Research on potential utilizations, understanding of the chemical composition, and nutritionally beneficial properties and industrial applications of Mee fat are important for efficient utilization. There are some reports available on potential applications of Mee fat in the food-processing industry. But, presently, it can only be considered as an underutilized seed fat. In India, Mee fat is used for edible purposes to a certain extent and similarly in Sri Lanka. Therefore, more scientific research should be conducted on Sri Lankan Mee varieties for edible purposes. Popularization of this valuable fat source is important. Scientific knowledge and agricultural tools have been effectively applied to make Mee fat beneficial for commercial applications. This review article summarizes recent research and studies available on botany, phytochemistry, functional properties, processing as well as food and other industrial applications of Mee fat.

Fermented rice is known as a healthy food due to the presence of lactic acid bacteria. The study was carried out to identify and characterise the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from white and red fermented rice Bg (Bathalagoda) varieties. Fermentation was carried out naturally by soaking red, white, raw, and cooked rice in sterile distilled water (1:3) overnight at 27 °C in an earthen pot. Potentially probiotic bacterial were isolated and the species of the isolated lactic acid bacteria were confirmed based on 16S rDNA gene sequencing and were studied for phenotypic characteristics, including morphological, physiological (growth temperature, salt tolerance, milk coagulation), and biochemical (carbohydrate fermentation pattern) characteristics, using API 50CH kits. Distinct clusters of cocci (48), diplococci (30), and rod-shaped bacteria (30) were observed in fermented rice. Five species of lactic acid bacteria were identified, including Latilactobacillus curvatus GRLb1, 2, 10, and 11 (the predominant Bacillus species); Latilactobacillus graminis GRLb 8; Limosilactobacillus fermentum GRLb17; Weissella confuse GRLb4; and Pediococcus pentosaceus GRLc1. The base pair length of amplified DNA for the isolates was 1500 Bp. Most of the isolates were able to grow at temperatures ranging from 10 °C to 45 °C, tolerate up to 6.5% salt, and coagulate milk with homofermentative characteristics. The beneficial physiological and biochemical properties of isolated Lactobacillus species from fermented rice revealed their potential applications in the food industry. The similar species of bacteria that were isolated from different sources show their probiotic characteristics. Further studies are recommended to confirm their probiotic properties and health benefits.