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The coronavirus disease COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 was a worldwide public health emergency which affected millions of people including frontline healthcare workers too. We evaluated the clinical features and biochemical investigations in COVID-19 affected healthcare workers (HCW) admitted to NIMS Intensive care unit (ICU) including survivors and non-survivors to identify risk factors for mortality. We did a retrospective study of 78 HCW with RTPCR confirmed COVID-19 infection admitted in ICU between July and November, 2020. Subjects were grouped into survivors and non-survivors. Clinical features and biochemical investigations were compared. Survival analysis was performed to analyze the risk factors of mortality. Out of the 78 patients admitted to ICU, the majority were males (64%). Non-survivor patients were older with a median age of 64 years. There were significantly higher proportion of females (59%) in non-survivors. COVID-19 non-survivors had significantly more incidence of cardiovascular disease and also higher blood levels of AST, CPK, CRP, D-dimer, IL-6, LDH, urea, NTproBNP and procalcitonin. Hazard's ratios showed that the mortality risk was significantly higher and survival was significantly lower in patients more than 60 years in age, females and those having IL-6 >40.06 pg/mL, LDH >461U/L, NTproBNP >1188 pg/mL, procalcitonin >0.5 pg/mL, urea >67 mg/dL, creatinine >1.3 mg/dL, D-dimer >573 ng/mL, ferritin >1488 ng/mL, andCPK >191U/L. Our study identified that the mortality risk was significantly higher and survival was significantly lower in patients older age group, females and those having higher IL-6, LDH, NTproBNP, procalcitonin, urea, creatinine, D-dimer, ferritin and CPK. Determination of specific clinical and biochemical features as above would help in better understanding of the pathophysiology, prognosis and appropriate intervention for potential outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we have designed for the fabrication of a series of g-C3N4/CuO composite by using one-step microwave-assisted synthesis for the degradation of antibiotics and detection of nano-molar range of toxic heavy metal ions. The synthesized g-C3N4/CuO composites were analyzed and characterized to know the structure, phase, surface area, absorption region, bandgap, and size of the composites. From the observation of TEM and XRD measurements, g-C3N4/CuO composites have hexagonal shape with average diameter of the particles is 25 ± 5 nm. The observed band gap values from UV-vis DRS for g-C3N4 nanosheets and CuO NPs are 2.64 eV and 1.72 eV. The synthesized g-C3N4/CuO composite has prodigious specific surface area (32.47 m2/g), which is the evident for superior heterogeneous catalytic applications. Therefore, the synthesized g-C3N4/CuO composites were tested for the degradation of antibiotics such as tetracycline (TC) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) under UV light illumination, it shows 88.02% and 90.01% degradation was observed within 1 h due to the matching optical band gap and internal charge transfer of excitons with in the heterojunction surface among g-C3N4 and CuO in the composite than the individual components (g-C3N4 and CuO) due to the high surface area and tiny particles of CuO were randomly deposited on the surface of g-C3N4 nanosheets. The catalytic reduction reaction follows as pseudo-first order equation and reused for 5 consecutive cycles without remarkable loss of catalytic activity. Moreover, the synthesized CuO NPs and g-C3N4/CuO composites were used as a prominent fluorescence sensing probe for the selective detection of Pb2+ in nano-molar range of concentration with Ksv is 1.38 × 104 mol− 1dm3. It was observed as a linear relationship based on the change in intensity, the limit of detection was determined to be 0.184 nM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In the context of assistive technology, mobility takes the meaning of "moving safely, gracefully, and comfortably".The aim of this article is to provide a system which will be a convenient means of navigation for the Visually Impaired people, in the public transport system. Method: A blind regular commuter who travels by public transport facility finds difficulty in identifying the vehicle that is nearing the stop. Hence, a real-time system that dynamically identifies the nearing vehicle and informs the commuters is necessary. This paper proposes such a system namely the "Vehicle Board Recognition System" (VBRS). Computer Vision techniques such as segmentation, object recognition, text detection and optical character recognition are utilized to build the system, which will detect, analyze, derive and communicate the information to the passengers. Results: Thanks to the rapid development in technology, there are several navigation systems both hand held and wearable, available to help visually impaired (VI) people move comfortably both indoor and outdoor. Many blind people are not comfortable in using these devices or they are not affordable for them. Thus the proposed system gives them the comfort of navigation. Conclusion: This system can be installed in the bus stop to assist the Visually Impaired, from externally rather than their hand held or wearable assistive devices. This proposed system will help the visually impaired to ensure secure navigation be independent of the others develop self confidence. overcome the training, affordability of wearable/ handheld devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To propose a system for convenience in using CAPTCHA by the Visually Impaired person. Method: To make this access secure CAPTCHA ("Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart") was invented. This form of CAPTCHA requires that the user type the letters of a distorted image, sometimes with the addition of an obscured sequence of letters or digits that appears on the screen. This traditional method receives many criticism from the disable people. Hence a finger print based CAPTCHA is introduced. Result: A CAPTCHA MONSTER, a convenient system of breaking CAPTCHA for the Visually Impaired is Proposed. Conclusion: Thus in this proposed system, it is possible to access the web services on websites for various day to day applications by effective authentication procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thin films containing TiO2/HZSM-5 are found to be more active for the photocatalytic degradation of phenolic wastewaters than films without zeolite. The optimum ratio of TiO2/HZSM-5 is found to be 1/4. The presence of zeolite increases the concentration of substrate near the photocatalyst and protects the organic support against the photodegradation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The present work is focused on the heterogeneous photocatalytic degradation of H-acid, a toxic and non-biodegradable dye intermediate, in TiO2 suspensions and TiO2 thin film fixed bed reactor (TFFBR). The degradation studies in slurry form are investigated using TiO2 Degussa P25 and different Millennium PC50, PC100 and PC500 photocatalysts under UV illumination. The study includes dark adsorption experiments in different pH conditions, influence of the amount of photocatalyst, effect of H-acid concentration, effect of pH on chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD) and the sulfate ion formation during the photocatalytic degradation. Photocatalytic treatment significantly reduces COD and increases the biodegradability of H-acid. The intermediates have been identified by LCMS. The study with slurry is extended to the immobilization of preformed TiO2 Degussa P25 in thin film using an acrylic emulsion by simple spray technique on inert Cuddapah stone. This method of immobilization does not require the thermal treatment of the catalyst at high temperatures. It may be used for the photocatalytic treatment of effluents at a higher scale. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Titanium(IV) oxide of 2, 5, 10, and 15 wt.% was supported on HZSM-5 zeolite using solid state dispersion (SSD) method. These catalysts were characterized by BET surface area, XRD, UV–VIS–DR-spectra and SEM–EDAX. Characterization of TiO2/HZSM-5 (SSD) catalysts clearly shows that TiO2 dispersed in solid state is free of interaction with the zeolite. The photocatalytic activity of these systems in the degradation of aqueous phenol and p-chlorophenol indicates that TiO2/HZSM-5 (SSD) is an active photocatalyst; the optimum photodegradation activity is seen at 10–15 wt.% TiO2/HZSM-5. The same activity is also achieved by simply suspending TiO2+HZSM-5 combinate (mechanical mixture) in aqueous phenol and p-chlorophenol. Based on these results, a model highlighting the photodegradation activity of both immobilized [TiO2/HZSM-5 (SSD)] and mobilized [TiO2+zeolite (combinate)] TiO2, which may lead to the development of an easy and effective technology in wastewater treatments, is proposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]