Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Therapy in Novel Porcine Model of Diffuse Liver Damage Induced by Repeated Biliary Obstruction

In liver surgery, biliary obstruction can lead to secondary biliary cirrhosis, a life-threatening disease with liver transplantation as the only curative treatment option. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have been shown to improve liver function in both acute and chronic liver disease models. This study evaluated the effect of allogenic MSC transplantation in a large animal model of repeated biliary obstruction followed by partial hepatectomy. MSC transplantation supported the growth of regenerated liver tissue after 14 days (MSC group, n = 10: from 1087 ± 108 (0 h) to 1243 ± 92 mL (14 days); control group, n = 11: from 1080 ± 95 (0 h) to 1100 ± 105 mL (14 days), p = 0.016), with a lower volume fraction of hepatocytes in regenerated liver tissue compared to resected liver tissue (59.5 ± 10.2% vs. 70.2 ± 5.6%, p < 0.05). Volume fraction of connective tissue, blood vessels and bile vessels in regenerated liver tissue, serum levels of liver enzymes (AST, ALT, ALP and GGT) and liver metabolites (albumin, bilirubin, urea and creatinine), as well as plasma levels of IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α and TGF-β, were not affected by MSC transplantation. In our novel, large animal (pig) model of repeated biliary obstruction followed by partial hepatectomy, MSC transplantation promoted growth of liver tissue without any effect on liver function. This study underscores the importance of translating results between small and large animal models as well as the careful translation of results from animal model into human medicine.     

Frequency channeling: a concept to increase the frequency and control the PPV of blast-induced ground vibration waves in multi-hole blast in a surface mine

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - Vibrations induced due to blasting in mines may damage the nearby houses and disturb the habitants. The monitoring, prediction, and control of...     

Ramp Type Heating in a Semiconductor Medium under Photothermal Theory

The present investigation is concerned with study the two-dimensional deformation in a semi-infinite semiconducting medium subjected to ramp type heating. The deformation in the medium is caused subjected to a thermal source of ramp-type nature applied along the free surface of a semiconducting medium. The semiconductor thermoelastic medium is under the influence of an internal heat source of constant magnitude. Integral Transform method has been used to obtain the transformed expression of displacement components, stress components, temperature distribution, and carrier density. The transformed expressions are then inverted using numerical inversion technique. The effect of ramp-type source and thermoelectric coupling parameter on the components of displacement, force stress, temperature distribution, and carrier density has been shown graphically.     

Escherichia coli,Salmonella spp., and Staphylococcus aureus susceptibility to antimicrobials of human and veterinary importance in poultry sector of India

In India, little attention has been paid on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the context of developing “One Health” approach. Hence, utilizing multi-disciplinary approach, we assess the AMR level and dynamics/pattern of multi-drug resistance (MDR) in Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., and Staphylococcus aureus circulating over the different stages of poultry in India. A total of 342 isolates including E. coli (n = 143), Salmonella spp. (n = 104), and S. aureus (n = 95) were recovered from fecal (n = 80) and cecal (n = 80) samples of chicken, collected across the different poultry-retail shops and poultry-farms located at urban and rural areas of Rajasthan, India, respectively. High rates of AMR to drugs that are critically/highly important both in human and veterinary medicine were observed among all the isolates. Upward trends in AMR prevalence was observed in poultry-retail shops than in poultry-farms. Notably, >90% of all the isolates were MDR, of particular, pattern/prevalence of MDR was substantially varied across the poultry-farms vs. poultry-retail shops. Our results indicate AMR including MDR to be common in E. coli, Salmonella spp., and S. aureus distributed frequently in poultry. The study encourages the formulation of national policy, programmes and further research with a “One Health” approach that can benefits to the human/animal and the environment.     

Development of De-NOx selective catalytic reduction catalyst using V2O5 –TiO2 supported on a ceramic filter candle

This study reports the development of a V₂O₅-TiO₂-based selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst supported on alumina-silicate water filter candles for NO_x abatement. The synthesised catalysts have been characterised by thermogravimetry/differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and measurement of NO_x removal performance. The catalyst synthesised under optimal conditions shows NO_x reduction efficiency of >97%. SCR performance has been augmented using O₂ as a carrier gas. This simple, reproducible procedure can have wide applications in NOx abatement.     

Incremental attribute evaluation through recursive procedures

Incremental semantic analysis in a programming environment based on Attribute Grammars is performed by an Incremental Attribute Evaluator (IAE). Current IAEs are either table-driven or make extensive use of graph structures to schedule reevaluation of attributes. A method of compiling an Ordered Attribute Grammar into mutually recursive procedures is proposed. These procedures form an optimal time Incremental Attribute Evaluator for the attribute grammar, which does not require any graphs or tables.     

Valence band offsets in strained GaAs1−xPx/GaAs heterojunctions

Valence band offsets at [100]-oriented heterojunctions between tensile-strained GaASj_1−xP_x and unstrained GaAs are studied experimentally and theoretically. Light-hole (LH) and heavy-hole (HH) offsets are first extracted from the well-width dependence of valence subband splittings observed in luminescence spectra of tensile-strained GaAs_1−xP_x/GaAs quantum wells of various compositions (x = 0.06,0.09, and 0.19). This data is then combined with results from two other laboratories, yielding a set of 30 independent experimental offset values for junctions with compositions throughout the range 0.06≤x ≤0.32. The data are found to be highly consistent, with linear fits δE_LH = −140x (meV) and δE_HH= −401x (meV) describing the measured offsets to within less than 5 meV on average. Experimental results are then compared with theoretical predictions for the GaAs_1−x P_x/GaAs system obtained from a tight-binding model for strained heterojunctions. Predictions from the tight-binding calculations are found to lie within experimental scatter for the LH offsets, which define the valence band edge in these heterostructures, while magnitudes of the tight-binding HH offsets exceed measured values by ~20% on average.     

Modelling of hydrolysis controlled anaerobic digestion

A mathematical model of anaerobic digestion has been developed which considers the process as occurring through hydrolysis followed by a sequence of steps which have been considered together as a pseudo-first order process. The Michaelis-Menten equation has been modified to incorporate variable enzyme concentration. An immobilized reactor has been designed, fabricated and operated on cowdung feed to obtain data for estimating the model parameters by non-linear regression. These model parameters were used to predict the performance of the reactor and good agreement between experimental and predicted values was observed. The model was further tested satisfactorily on data from the literature. From the parameters estimated it was concluded that hydrolysis was the slowest stage and that the mass transfer of hydrolytic enzyme from microbe to bulk was the rate controlling step in this stage. The hydrolysis reaction, represented by a modified Michaelis-Menten equation, was reduced to first order in bulk enzyme concentration and zero order in substrate concentration thereby emphasizing the significance of bulk enzyme concentration.     

Utility of Column Lysimeter for Design of Soil Aquifer Treatment System for Wastewater Renovation Using Artificial Neural Networks

An artificial neural network (ANN) model is developed to study the correlation of data with reference to various wastewater pollution parameters (biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, NH4, PO4) using two scales of experiments viz. column lysimeter and a pilot soil aquifer treatment (SAT) system for wastewater renovation in India. A unique feature of the study is that the primary treated wastewater was directly applied to SAT system for renovation in contrast to the secondary treated effluent used in most of the other studies that have been reported. The analysis of data using ANN as a tool indicates that the column lysimeter data are useful for design of SAT systems and it is possible to predict the effluent quality for SAT system based on the inputs from lysimeter experiments. The study highlights the utility of column lysimeter studies for evolving design parameters for a full-scale SAT system thereby obviating the need for pilot SAT studies which are site specific, time consuming, and expensive. Thus, the study suggests that the experimental data from lysimeter studies at a particular site can be used to predict performance of field-scale SAT systems without going in for actual experimentation. Further, the field data from one site could be utilized for design of SAT systems at other locations provided the climatic and hydrogeological conditions viz. soil matrix characteristics and wastewater characteristics, etc., are similar.