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Objectives: The study aimed to compare the effectiveness of carbamazepine and baclofen in the medical management of trigeminal neuralgia. Materials and Methods: 100 trigeminal neuralgia patients were randomly divided into two groups with 50 samples in each. Group A had patients treated with carbamazepine while Group B comprised of patients treated using baclofen. Follow-up was performed on the initial, 15 days, 1 month, and 3 months duration. The data was statistically evaluated. Results: Carbamazepine showed a “good response” in 54.39% of patients at initial follow-up, and adverse side effects increased in 20–29.49% of patients from the initial to 3-month duration. On the other hand, baclofen demonstrated a “good response” in 54.45% of patients at initial follow-up. At 800 mg, a “good response” was noted in 87.9% of patients, whereas 16.9% of patients had an “average response” and a “good response” after 1 month. At 3 months, 99.87% of patients showed a “good response.” Both groups showed similar success rates after 3 months. Conclusion: Adverse effects incidence and success were similar in both groups.

Introduction: An unusual nasopharyngeal foreign body in a very young child with no clinical symptoms is a rare case presentation. Case Report: A nine-month-old child presented with a suspected history of foreign body ingestion without any clue to the parents about the nature of the foreign body. X-ray of the nasopharynx revealed a sharp unusual metallic “Louis Vuitton” shoe logo that the child had accidentally inserted into the nasopharynx via the oral cavity while playing. Foreign body was removed under general anesthesia without complications. Conclusion: X-ray nasopharynx should be included in the examination of a suspected case of foreign body ingestion, as an unusual shape of foreign body can even produce no clinical symptoms but still pose a potential life threat due to its dislodgement into the airway if missed or delayed.

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a binder commonly used in air–cathode MFC fabrication. Herein, the performance of poly acrylic co-maleic acid (PMA) as a binder and anti-scaling agent for cathode was evaluated for application in an air–cathode MFC. Two different cathode catalysts were tested for applicability in MFC, viz., (a) Vulcan-XC: with PMA (MFC-1), with PDMS (MFC-3), and (b) Nitrogen-doped carbon catalyst (NDCP) with PDMS (MFC-2) and with PMA (MFC-4). The PMA, as an alternative to costly PDMS, prevented scale formation on the cathode surface and helped to sustain the performance of MFC-3 and MFC-4 for over 30 days. As evidenced by the cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, MFC-4 (NDCP and PMA) showed the best cathodic current density owing to the core–shell structure formed by nitrogen and carbon atoms in NDCP. In the future, using PMA can prevent scale formation over the (air) cathode surface and deliver a stable performance of MFC without any need for costly binder agents, such as PDMS.

Abstract Background Esophageal foreign body impaction is one of the common reasons of referral to Ear Nose Throat clinic. It is a medical emergency requiring urgent evaluation and treatment. Esophageal foreign body in a very young child can be a diagnostic challenge. Case presentation In this case, we report an unusual sharp foreign body in the upper aerodigestive tract of a 20-month-old female child. It was neglected and misdiagnosed in the initial phase and was treated as a case of upper respiratory tract infection. Chest X-ray done was suggestive of a radiopaque irregular sharp foreign body at the level of the 6th cervical vertebra. The patient underwent rigid esophagoscopy on an urgent basis, and the foreign body was removed without any complication. Conclusion Esophageal foreign body in a very young child can mimic upper respiratory tract infection due to atypical symptoms. Strong witness history along with X-rays of the neck, chest, and abdomen help in making the immediate diagnosis. Clinicians should always advise parents for supervision of their children during play.

In patients with univentricular heart, the Fontan procedure is the final palliation. This is usually staged. A systemic-to-pulmonary artery shunt is performed in the presence of episodes of cyanotic spells in the neonatal period or in some patients in infancy; a bidirectional superior cardiopulmonary anastomosis is preferred early in life. This is followed by the final Fontan palliation on an elective basis later. For an effective bidirectional superior cavopulmonary anastomosis and Fontan palliation, good-sized confluent pulmonary arteries (PAs) are mandatory in addition to favorable hemodynamic data. Patients with discontinuous PAs that are small in size present a surgical challenge at initial palliation as the one described in this report.

Introduction: Primary hyperparathyroidism due to parathyroid adenoma commonly causes raised serum calcium and focal giant cell lytic lesions in bones known as Brown’s tumors. It is more common in females in the post-menopausal age group. Case Report: We report a case of a 29-year-old female patient with Brown’s tumor maxilla in a clinical setting of normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism. The patient presented to us with facial and palatal swelling for which FNAC was done. Cytology revealed hemosiderin-laden macrophages suspicious for Brown’s tumor. On further imaging studies such as CT Neck, Tc99 Sestamibi scan, and other biochemical tests like parathyroid hormone assay and serum calcium level, the diagnosis of a hyperfunctioning parathyroid gland with normal calcium level was made. Parathyroidectomy was performed and parathyroid adenoma came out to be the primary pathology. On post-operative follow up there was regression of the swelling on the face and palate relieving the patient symptomatically. Conclusion: The diagnostic suspicion of primary hyperparathyroidism should be kept in mind whenever a young female presents with suspected Brown’s tumor, even with normal serum calcium levels, for appropriate management. Ours was a highly uncommon case that was a diagnostic challenge and had a successful treatment outcome. Very few such cases have been reported in the literature to date to the best of our knowledge.

The 5G mobile network is promising to handle the dynamic traffic demands of user equipment (UE). Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with wireless transceivers can act as flying base stations in heterogeneous networks to ensure the quality of service of UE. However, it is challenging to efficiently allocate limited bandwidth to UE due to dynamic traffic demands and low network coverage. In this study, a blockchain-enabled bandwidth allocation framework is proposed for secure bandwidth trading. Furthermore, the proposed framework is based on the Cournot oligopoly game theoretical model to provide the optimal solution; that is, bandwidth is allocated to different UE based on the available bandwidth at UAV-assisted-based stations (UBSs) with optimal profit. The Cournot oligopoly game is performed between UBSs and cellular base stations (CBSs). Utility functions for both UBSs and CBSs are introduced on the basis of the available bandwidth, total demand of CSBs, and cost of providing cellular services. The proposed framework prevents security attacks and maximizes the utility functions of UBSs and CBSs.

Forty mungbean genotypes were evaluated for fourteen quantitative traits, planted in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Mahalanobis' generalised distance D2 was used to assess the character data and Principal Component Analysis for estimating genetic diversity and identification of superior mungbean genotypes. Following Tocher's technique, the 40 genotypes were divided into 7 clusters in accordance with their genetic distance. Among them four clusters were polygenotypic and three were monogenotypic. The genotypes of cluster IV and VII showed highest (40.51) inter cluster distance followed by cluster III and VII (39.04). Cluster V has been discovered to have the largest intra-cluster distance. In order to increase the genetic diversity of Vigna radiata, genotypes from these clusters may be crossed. Based on Principal Component Analysis results, 5 PCs explained 75.87% of the variation among the 14 parameters and had eigen values greater than unit. Only six genotypes—TJM-37, TJM-134, TJM-140, TJM-235, Shikha, and PM-1632—contained with favourable yield and quality associated PCs, and had outstanding remark for yield traits—out of all genotypes contributing their existence in more than one PC with high PC score. These lines may be used in hybridization programmes to transmit desirable features, such as high yield and high quality, to recipient mungbean genotypes, resulting in the creation of promising cultivars.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a perfluoro compound that contains an eight-carbon perfluoroalkyl chain followed by a carboxylic acid function group. The C-F bound possesses a strong bond energy of approximately 485 kJ/mol, rendering PFOA thermally and chemically stable. It has found applications in water-resistant coating and is produced either by degrading other long-chain perfluorinated carboxylic acids or fluorotelomer alcohol. PFOA is challenging to further degrade during water treatment processes, leading to its accumulation in natural systems and causing contamination. Research has been conducted to develop several methods for its removal from the water system, but only a few of these methods effectively degrade PFOA. This review compares the most common chemical degradation methods such as photochemical, electrochemical, and sonochemical methods, to the cutting-edge biodegradation method. The chemical degradation and biodegradation methods both involve the stepwise degradation of PFOA, with the latter capable of occurring both aerobically and anaerobically. However, the degradation efficiency of the biological process is lower when compared to the chemical process, and further research is needed to explore the biological degradation aspect.

Abstract The fabrication of integrated circuits (ICs) employing two-dimensional (2D) materials is a major goal of semiconductor industry for the next decade, as it may allow the extension of the Moore’s law, aids in in-memory computing and enables the fabrication of advanced devices beyond conventional complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. However, most circuital demonstrations so far utilizing 2D materials employ methods such as mechanical exfoliation that are not up-scalable for wafer-level fabrication, and their application could achieve only simple functionalities such as logic gates. Here, we present the fabrication of a crossbar array of memristors using multilayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) as dielectric, that exhibit analog bipolar resistive switching in >96% of devices, which is ideal for the implementation of multi-state memory element in most of the neural networks, edge computing and machine learning applications. Instead of only using this memristive crossbar array to solve a simple logical problem, here we go a step beyond and present the combination of this h-BN crossbar array with CMOS circuitry to implement extreme learning machine (ELM) algorithm. The CMOS circuit is used to design the encoder unit, and a h-BN crossbar array of 2D hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) based memristors is used to implement the decoder functionality. The proposed hybrid architecture is demonstrated for complex audio, image, and other non-linear classification tasks on real-time datasets.

Aging affects iron homeostasis, as evidenced by tissue iron loading and anemia in the elderly. Iron needs in mammals are met primarily by iron recycling from senescent red blood cells (RBCs), a task chiefly accomplished by splenic red pulp macrophages (RPMs) via erythrophagocytosis. Given that RPMs continuously process iron, their cellular functions might be susceptible to age-dependent decline, a possibility that has been unexplored to date. Here, we found that 10- to 11-month-old female mice exhibit iron loading in RPMs, largely attributable to a drop in iron exporter ferroportin, which diminishes their erythrophagocytosis capacity and lysosomal activity. Furthermore, we identified a loss of RPMs during aging, underlain by the combination of proteotoxic stress and iron-dependent cell death resembling ferroptosis. These impairments lead to the retention of senescent hemolytic RBCs in the spleen, and the formation of undegradable iron- and heme-rich extracellular protein aggregates, likely derived from ferroptotic RPMs. We further found that feeding mice an iron-reduced diet alleviates iron accumulation in RPMs, enhances their ability to clear erythrocytes, and reduces damage. Consequently, this diet ameliorates hemolysis of splenic RBCs and reduces the burden of protein aggregates, mildly increasing serum iron availability in aging mice. Taken together, we identified RPM collapse as an early hallmark of aging and demonstrated that dietary iron reduction improves iron turnover efficacy.

Longevity in life span of city dwellers depends upon the quality of ambient air, which is often compromised due to urbanization. In this context, since independence, Bengaluru has rampantly grown with elevated air and automobile pollution levels. Ambient Carbon Monoxide [CO], which is considered to be the most dangerous criteria air pollutant, however has insufficient research/literature for the city of Bengaluru. To plug this gap, the pre-sent study engages a detailed examination for Temporal and Spatial Map-ping variation of Ambient ‘CO’ concentration in different wards of Bengaluru using calibrated Digital ‘CO’ sensor. The methodology involved primarily an intensive literature review followed by reconnaissance survey for fixation of monitoring stations about each ‘ward’. Further at these observatories, extensive primary data collection was ensued at periodic and regular intervals. The objective serves to delineate the most critical and non-critical places in Bengaluru to incorporate remedial measures. Startling 400+ violations with potential of triggering congestive heart failure, impaired performance in time discrimination, shortened time to angina response and vigilance decrement were observed. Sustainability measures conclude the study.

ABSTRACT: Emerging technologies such as electronic procurement have rapidly become common practice in recent years. With the advent of internet technologies and open innovations, the traditional procurement system is transformed into an electronic procurement system. Technology adoption is influenced by multiple factors, including the adopter, technology, and ecosystem in which they function. Considering this, E-procurement is still being adopted slowly. This research aims to investigate the extension of the adoption of E-procurement and identify the relationships between the E-procurement technologies and green procurement practices across different sectors of ISO 14001-certified Malaysian enterprises. This research is supported by the Technology Acceptance Model, one of the significant theories of technology adoption. Using SPSS and SmartPLS, the survey data is analyzed quantitatively. The structural model explains 86% of the variance in green procurement and shows the positive significant relationship between green procurement and the E-procurement technology of the ISO 14001 firms. Consequently, adopting E-procurement technology would benefit company sustainability. A benchmark for ISO companies will be established, highlighting the importance of E-procurement technology in improving green procurement and supply chain efficiency. The study recommends that demand for environmentally friendly products and services be fueled by technology-based purchases, resulting in a greener supply chain.

This study focused on the development of a stripping process for recovering nitrogen from compost leachate. Several experiments were carried out to identify the optimum conditions of temperature, airflow rate and pH that provide effective recovery of nitrogen from the leachate. The most energy and chemical saving experimental condition were found out to be at 40 °C, an airflow rate of 1 L/min and a pH of 10.5. A stripping efficiency of about 94% was observed upon the use of an air flow rate of 1 L/min and a 71% recovery in sulphuric acid to finally obtain ammonium sulphate. The experiment was performed using a leachate volume of 500 mL, with an NH4+ concentration of 600 mg/L, and during the absorption, the total ammonium was recovered as 214 mg/150 mL of sulphuric acid solution (2% v/v), which makes a total recovery of 71% of initial ammonium concentration. Overall, it is reported that 1.5 g of ammonium sulphate could be extracted from the processing (stripping and absorption) of 1 L of raw leachate.

A bench-scale filter consisting of sand media was tested for hydrodynamic parameters (velocity and pressure) using ANSYS-CFX (computational fluid dynamics or CFD software) to further determine the ‘subjective minimum scale-up’ (SMS) filter dimension. The purpose of this study is to relate the hydrodynamics property of the bench scale column and the scale-up column for a porous fluid flow using CFD to understand the scale-up limitations. The poor flow regime in bench-scale filter was observed because of a high variance in the pressure gradient as obtained for a plane perpendicular to the direction of fluid flow (orthogonal plane). The flow regime pattern was analyzed by structural modelling and in-built programming using the concept of CFD. Using CFD, a SMS filter dimension was obtained that was found free of high-pressure gradient (on orthogonal plane near the column exit) that might have incurred due to a ‘bad’ flow regime in case of the bench-scale filter. This could sort operational issues caused due to pressure-velocity parameters and would help researchers to step-up with scale-up dimension (from bench-scale) more confidently and credibly. The simulation was obtained for the scale-up reactor using the intrinsic properties to validate the model. An error of 4.1% was reported between the experimental velocity of the bench-scale filter vs simulated value from ANSYS-CFX. Also, a better plug flow condition was obtained for the scale-up column using CFD (Morill dispersion index or MDI = 3) as compared to that of bench-scale filter (MDI = 2.2).

Abstract Narrow band ultraviolet B (NB UVB) radiation doses are administered during phototherapy for various dermatological ailments. Precise quantification of these doses is vital because the absorbed irradiation can cause adverse photochemical reactions which can lead to potential phototherapeutic side effects. The paper presents development of diacetylene based dosimeter for the determination of therapeutic NB UVB doses during phototherapy. The amide terminated diacetylene analogues have been synthesized by tailoring them with different functional groups. The synthesized diacetylene monomers have been introduced in a polyvinyl alcohol binder solution to obtain a film dosimeter. The influence of different headgroups on the colorimetric response to UV radiation has been studied. Among all the synthesized diacetylene analogues, the naphthylamine substituted diacetylene exhibited excellent color transition from white to blue color at 100 mJ cm−2 NB UVB radiation dose. The developed amide films can be easily pasted on multiple sites of the patient’s skin to monitor doses during phototherapy simultaneously at different anatomical regions. The digital image processing of the scanned images of the irradiated films facilitates rapid dose measurement which enables facile implementation of the developed film dosimeters and promising application in routine clinical dosimetry.

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is defined as “the stoppage of ventilation or incidence of significant hypoventilation during sleep, which is characterized by episodes of partial or complete upper airway obstruction related with hypoxemia and/or hypercarbia. There have been many treatments reported for this syndrome including Mandibular repositioning appliance (MRA), continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), weight loss, exercise, intraoral appliance therapy, soft tissue procedures, and maxillomandibular advancement (MMA) surgery. Present study is an attempt where three patients of OSAS have been treated with Miniscrew-assisted rapid palatal expansion (MARPE). The results of BMI, AHI index showed the promising effect. Even the use of MARPE has improved the air flow and increased the rapid palatal area.

Plants have always been an integrated part of human life, whether we discuss about providing food or we about their medicinal value. Ethnomedicines have led to the discovery of many valuable drugs against various diseases. It has been postulated that most of the disease are related to immune system which is affected by imbalance balance between antioxidants and prooxidants or free radicals. Free radicals are the chemical entities capable of independent existence that contain one/more unpaired electrons and can be balanced by antioxidants. Antioxidants maintain the integrity and function of membrane lipids, cellular proteins, and nucleic acids and the control of signal transduction of gene expression in immune cells. For this reason, the immune cells are particularly sensitive to changes in their antioxidant status. Whenever there is imbalance between prooxidant and antioxidants they can lead to many diseases and even ameliorate the severity of disease like Alzheimer, cardiovascular disorder, cancer etc. There are evidences showing usage of plants as a potent source of antioxidants has provided a lot of support in combating various diseases, without any side effect. Various Bioflavonoids, Carotenoids, Hydroxycinnamates etc helps in scavenging the free radicals and thus proved to be immunostimulant. There are various mechanisms through which these Phyto antioxidants assisted against various disease. The present review is an attempt showing the relationship of free radicals with various diseases and immune system and the role of Phyto antioxidants against various health related conditions.

Aim: This study aims to develop a method using dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) to determine the effective atomic number and electron density of substances. Materials and Methods: Ten chemical substances of pure analytical grade were obtained from various manufacturers. These chemicals were pelletized using a hydraulic press. These pellets were scanned using DECT. A relation was obtained for the pellet's atomic number and electron density with their CT number or Hounsfield unit (HU) values. Calibration coefficients were determined. Five new chemical pellets were scanned, and their effective atomic number and electron densities were determined using the calibration coefficients to test the efficacy of the calibration method. Results: The results obtained for effective atomic number and electron density from the HU number of DECT images were within ±5% and ±3%, respectively, of their actual values. Conclusions: DECT can be used as an effective tool for determining the effective atomic number and electron density of high atomic number substance.

Removal of synthetic dyes from wastewater generated by the textile industries is important. Rhodamine-B is widely used colorant and is medically proven to lead to tissue borne sarcoma, reproductive and neurotoxicity issues in humans, if still present in the treated drinking water. Herein, this dataset provides information on different forms of sand materials for their effective utilization as an adsorbent material for Rhodamine-B. The effectiveness of the media was measured in terms of breakthrough time obtained. One of the 27 presented data set is a part of a research article [1] explaining the breakthrough time of these filter media under specific experimental condition. All these data is a combination of three variables that were studied: a) concentration of Rhodamine-B (1 mg/L, 5 mg/L and 10 mg/L), b) flow velocity of Rhodamine-B spiked water (2 mL/min, 5 mL/min and 10 mL/min) and c) bed height (7.5 cm, 10 cm, and 12.5 cm). At any bed height, the breakthrough time of graphitized sand (brewery sugar coated, GS1) was found to be 3–4 times higher than the second best adsorbent, i.e., manganese dioxide coated on GS1. Keywords: Rhodamine-B, Sand media, Graphitized sand, Manganese-coated sand, Adsorption, Breakthrough time

Abstract Long term stable performance of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) is difficult to achieve because of scale formation on cathode. Nitrogen doped carbon powder (NDCP) was used as cathode along with amino-tri-methylene-phosphate (ATMP) as an anti-scaling agent in a MFC. Maximum power density of 66 mW/m2 obtained in the MFC using NDCP as cathode, was 2.2 times higher than that obtained with simple carbon powder. High electroactive surface area and meso-porous structure of the NDCP improved electrochemical performance of the MFC having NDCP cathode. After 40 days of operation, the maximum power density decreased by only 12.5% in the MFC using NDCP and having ATMP in its cathode as compared to a 55.6% decrease in the MFC using only carbon powder in cathode due to fouling. Ultrathin shell structure of NDCP catalyst molecules, as evident from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images, ensured high catalyst performance providing good electron transfer for enhancing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Less deposition of calcite molecules on cathode surface, illustrated via X-ray diffraction (XRD) after 40 days of operation, clearly reveals high anti-fouling property of ATMP as a cathode material. ATMP being a commercial anti-scaling agent has inherent chelation properties to stop chemical fouling and thus helped in demonstrating stable long term performance of cathode in the MFCs. NDCP along with ATMP could be used for fabrication of a cost effective fouling resistant cathode for long term use by increasing ORR in MFCs to achieve stable power generation by minimizing scale formation on cathode and effective wastewater treatment simultaneously. Graphical abstract

Introduction: Frozen shoulder is a painful and disabling condition in patients in 40-70 years age group , affecting 2-5% of general population. Aim of the study was to assess pain relief and functional improvement after supracapular nerve block with or without pregabalin, in patients with diagnosed case of frozen shoulder who failed to respond to medical treatment for 3 months. Material and methods: 100 patients with unilateral frozen shoulder was divided into two equal groups (n = 50) in a randomized double blind protocol. Group A (n = 50) received three doses of suprascapular nerve block and oral pregabalin 75 mg at bed time daily while Group B (n = 50) received suprascapular nerve block and oral placebo tablets in a similar way. Suprascapular nerve block was given with Inj depot methyl prednisolone acetate 1 ml (40 mg) + 9 ml 0.25% inj bupivacine for three successive weeks with ultrasound. Patients were followed up at 4 th , 6 th and 12 th week after injection. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to assess intensity of pain and range of movement estimated using goniometer in terms of abduction, external rotation and internal rotation in sitting position. Results: Results showed Group-A patients had almost complete pain relief and significant improvement in the range of movement at the end of 12 th week compared to Group B (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Combination therapy of suprascapular nerve block and oral pregabalin 75 mg is better for patients with frozen shoulder compare to suprascapular nerve block only.

Recycled polylactic acid (PLAr) was reinforced with treated nanocellulosic hemp fibers for biocomposite fabrication. Cellulosic fibers were extracted from hemp fibers chemically and treated enzymatically. Treated nanocellulosic fibers (NCF) were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. Biocomposite fabrication was done with PLAr and three concentrations of treated NCF (0.1%, 0.25%, and 1% (v/v)) and then studied for thermal stability and mechanical properties. Increased thermal stability was observed with increasing NCF concentrations. The highest value for Young’s modulus was for PLAr + 0.25% (v/v) NCF (250.28 ± 5.47 MPa), which was significantly increased compared to PLAr (p = 0.022). There was a significant decrease in the tensile stress at break point for PLAr + 0.25% (v/v) NCF and PLAr + 1% (v/v) NCF as compared to control (p = 0.006 and 0.002, respectively). No significant difference was observed between treatments for tensile stress at yield.

Environment has been contaminated by heavy metals ever since the original magma of earth has solidified. One such toxin is cadmium. Cadmium that has been around since the industrial age, is considered hazardous both to us and to the environment. From time immemorial man is dependent on plants available in nature for several health benefits. Moringa oleifera, has nutritional, pharmacological and antioxidant properties, thus having several medicinal applications. In the present article, we discuss the dose and time dependent damage due to exposure to cadmium on kidneys, liver, testis, lipid profile and haematological parameters in adult Wistar rats and the protective effects of Moringa oleifera (pre-treatment) on cadmium induced damage.

Introduction: Fluoroscopy-guided intervention during percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) has become the order of the day. During this procedure, both the patient and the physician are exposed to some radiation. Measurement of radiation doses in patients and personnel are important. Patient radiation doses are used for comparison with other centers for achieving the best possible radiation practice. In addition, there are performance checks for the fluoroscopy machines so that x-ray emitting machines should work at the optimum level ie, producing good images at minimum possible radiation doses. Material and Methods: This is a review of literature and discussion on radiation dose to patients and personnel, and on basic radiation safety tenets and their application in urological interventions of PCNL procedure. Results: Radiation doses during PCNL have gone down over the time due to advances in technology. However, as radiation is hazardous, there is no room for complacency. A hospital’s medical physicist may ensure even further reduction of x-ray dose by carrying out regular dosimetry and quality assurance tests on the fluoroscopy machines. A survey meter may provide an easy and quicker but not-so-accurate method for occupation exposure determination. Conclusion: The practice of PCNL procedures seems to be quite safe with radiation point of view. The quick, easy, and economical method of estimation of radiation dose using survey meter may need further calibration with the standard thermoluminescence dosimetry method. Setting optimum x-ray parameters, incorporation of filters, and quality assurance tests are a few areas where medical physicists may help in further reduction of radiation doses.

Context: Immunization helps in controlling infectious diseases. Child immunization is an important component of child survival programs in India, which mainly follows the National Immunization Schedule. Also, many of the injection practices followed are not safe. Aims: To study the practices of pediatricians toward the immunization of children younger than 5 years and injection-related waste management. Settings and Design: Cross-sectional study carried out in the city of Mangalore, a rapidly developing city in southern India. Methods and Material: All the practicing pediatricians were included in the study and an interview was done on prior appointment using pretested interview schedule in March 2012, after obtaining clearance from the institutional ethics committee. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 11.5. Results: Among the 54 practicing pediatricians in Mangalore, 42 were included in this study after exclusion criteria were applied. Among them, 71.4% were following the National Immunization Schedule, 5% did not prefer to give combination vaccines, 17% reported vaccine failure at least once in their practice, and 85.7% motivated the parents for future doses. Distance to the clinic and affordability were the major reasons for loss of follow-up. Only 38.1% used auto-disabled syringes, 11.9% did not observe the children following the immunization, and 45.2% did not use color coding for disposal of injection-related wastes. Mechanical hub cutters were preferred by 41% of the respondents. Conclusion: The study showed the diversity in immunization practices. The National Immunization Schedule is the most commonly followed schedule. However, the safety of the injection practices was limited.

Purpose: Attenuation of x-rays in any object is a combined effect of scattering and absorption of x-ray photons by the atoms in the material. While the scattering part dependents linearly upon the material’s electron density (ρe) and is weakly dependent on the energy (E) of the photon, the photoelectric part varies as [ρe Zx eff /Ey] where Zeff is the effective atomic number of the material. We aim to determine the exponents (x,y) which are crucial for many radiological studies. Methods: In order to obtain exponent ‘y’, we find an equation in which the exponent x does not appear and the dependence on ‘y’ appears only linearly. Having thus reduced the problem to that of ‘one parameter fit’ in ‘y’, we generate the ‘data’ numerically from the numerical values of physical constants given in the NIST (The National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST) tables and determine ‘y’ from linear regression. The effect of the source spectrum on the effective value of ‘y’, denoted by ‘ym’ is studied for different low Zeff substances in different energy ranges. Results: It is seen that with x-ray sources operating at 80, 100,120,140 kVp, the effective exponent ‘y’ progressively decreases, as the x-ray source spectrum is pushed to higher energy side. However, for most practical purposes y=2.99 may be used for a wide variety of low Zeff substances. For practical cases with different source spectra, the effective energy of the source and the effective photoelectric exponent are seen to increase as the thickness of the aluminum filter increases. Conclusion: It thus follows that for applications such as DECT inversion, the appropriate values of ‘ym’ ought to be used that takes into account the appropriate source spectrum.