Lentiform fork sign: Uremia alone or multifactorial causation?

Neurological complications are common in patients with acute or chronic renal failure, especially when there is marked reduction in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). One such clinical syndrome, uremic encephalopathy (UE), occurs due to widespread dysfunction of central nervous system (CNS). It manifests with myriad clinical features and usually is suggested by bedside elicitation of asterixis (flapping tremor). Symptomatic involvement of the basal ganglia manifesting as choreoathetosis and clinical and radiological resolution with hemodialysis has been reported in the medical literature, but only rarely. The present report details such a case.     

Fabrication of electrically conductive membrane electrode of gelatin-tin (IV) phosphate nanocomposite for the detection of cobalt (II) ions

Gelatin-tin (IV) phosphate nanocomposite (GT/TPNC) ion exchanger was synthesized by mixing gelatin gel into the precipitates of tin (IV) phosphate using sol–gel method. GT/TPNC was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The ion exchange capacity of GT/TPNC was reported to be1.44?meq/g. The material was found monofunctional as indicated from pH titration curves. The distribution coefficient of different metal ions such as Zn²⁺ (42.10), Cd²⁺ (37.93), Mg²⁺ (33.33), Cu²⁺ (33.21), Al³⁺ (14.28), Pb²⁺ (6.06), Ni²⁺ (12.50) and Co²⁺ (50.0) was studied using GT/TPNC ion exchanger. The distribution studies confirmed the selectivity of GT/TPNC for Co (II). The photocatalytical degradation of MB was found to be 78% within 5 h of solar illumination using GT/TPNC. Some binary separations such as Co²⁺–Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺–Ni²⁺, Co²⁺–Mg²⁺, Mg²⁺–Zn²⁺, Pb²⁺–Zn²⁺, Cu²⁺–Al³⁺, Al³⁺–Cd²⁺, Ni²⁺–Cu²⁺ were attempted using GT/TPNC ion exchanger. GT/TPNC was explored for the fabrication of ion-sensitive membrane electrode for the determination of Co (II) in the water system. The membrane electrode was found mechanically more stable with quick response time (30?s) and a wide pH working range (4.0–7.0).     

Metal ion sensing and light activated antimicrobial activity of aloe-vera derived carbon dots

Carbon dots (CDs) have emerged out as a potential material amongst the carbon family for a wide range of applications including chemical/biological sensing, photocatalysis, bioimaging, etc. The green synthesis of these CDs from natural sources is gaining the significant interest of peer community for their wide utility. Herein, we present a facile one-step pyrolysis method for CDs synthesis from Aloe-Vera extract, which show bright blue luminescence under UV light with a quantum yield of 12.3%. Further, ex-situ morphological, structural and optical characterizations reveal their high quality and excitation independent emission behavior with the presence of carboxyl, hydroxyl functional groups. Furthermore, these CDs were studied for Fe(III) sensing in water without any surface modifications and assessed for their light activated antibacterial activity against E.Coli and Staphylococcus aureus.     

Co-delivery of gemcitabine and simvastatin through PLGA polymeric nanoparticles for the treatment of pancreatic cancer: in-vitro characterization,cellular uptake,and pharmacokinetic studies

Despite the ongoing extensive research, cancer therapeutics still remains an area with unmet needs which is hampered by shortfall in the development of newer medicines. The present study discusses a nano-based combinational approach for treating solid tumor. Dual-loaded nanoparticles encapsulating gemcitabine HCl (GM) and simvastatin (SV) were fabricated by double emulsion solvent evaporation method and optimized. Optimized nanoparticles showed a particle size of 258?±?2.4?nm, polydispersity index of 0.32?±?0.052, and zeta potential of ?12.5?mV. The size and the morphology of the particles wee further confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy, respectively of the particles. The entrapment efficiency of GM and SV in the nanoparticles was 38.5?±?4.5% and 72.2?±?5.6%, respectively. The in vitro release profile was studied for 60?h and showed Higuchi release pattern. The cell toxicity was done using MTT assay and lower IC₅₀ was obtained with the nanoparticles as compared to the pure drug. The bioavailability of GM and SV in PLGA nanoparticles was enhanced by 1.4-fold and 1.3-fold respectively, compared to drug solution. The results revealed that co-delivery of GM and SV could be used for its oral delivery for the effective treatment of pancreatic cancer.     

Modified Trident UWB Printed Monopole Antenna

Wireless Personal Communications - A new modified trident printed monopole configuration for Ultra wideband applications is presented. This monopole antenna has multi resonant segments of...     

Pre-processing of Retinal Images for Removal of Outliers

Wireless Personal Communications - Early diagnosis of diseases related with retina such as glaucoma is of utmost importance in current scenario as it is the second most prevailing cause of...     

Isolation,Amino Acid composition and molecular weight distribution ofEucalyptus kirtoniana seed proteins

Proteins were extracted from the deoiled seeds ofEucalyptus kirtoniana in aqueous solutions of various pHs or by different concentrations of NaCl, Na₂SO₃, CaCl₂ and MgCl₂ at pH 8.0. Amino acid analysis of the isolated protein identified 16 amino acids, nine of which were essential. Gel permeation chromatography on Sephadex G-200 revealed the presence of four components in the protein fraction, and their molecular weights were determined by two comparable standard methods. SDS-PAG electrophoresis demonstrated that each protein isolate from different salt solutions was composed of six fractions whose molecular weights were estimated to be 131,800; 108,300; 93,300; 51,300; 38,000 and 25,700 daltons.     

Radical polymerization approach for ring opened oxanorbornene anhydride based macromonomers

In this work, we synthesized end group functionalization of the cis-Norbornene-5-6-endo-dicarboxylic anhydride species via the ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of oxanorbornene derivatives generated a chiseled poly(cis-Norbornene-5-6-endo-Dicarboxylic anhydride) acrylate macromonomer. Further, acrylate oxanorbornene based macromonomer further polymerized via reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization technique. Chain transfer is exhibited in the structure during the radical polymerizations so that free radical polymerization could also be used to comb structure copolymers with a PDI value below 1.2 with the help of acrylate oxanorbornene. Atomic force microscopy reveals the comb shape of branched polymer brushes structure. This method involves polymerizable end-group attachment to a macromonomer, and the backbone of the comb polymer is created in a second step of the polymerization. We believe that this kind of comb structured polymers can be considered for different biological applications.     

Soybean‐Oil‐Based Thermosetting Resins with Methacrylated Vanillyl Alcohol as Bio‐Based,Low‐Viscosity Comonomer

A novel, bio‐based, aromatic monomer (methacrylated vanillyl alcohol, MVA) is synthesized using vanillyl alcohol and methacrylic anhydride in the absence of solvents. The resulting MVA is used as a sustainable comonomer to replace styrene in a maleinated acrylated epoxidized soybean‐oil (MAESO) resin to produce novel thermosets via free radical polymerization. The influence of MVA loading on the viscosity, gelation time, curing extent, thermomechanical properties, and tensile properties of the MAESO–MVA thermoset is investigated. The synthesized MVA exhibits very low volatility, which is beneficial for the development of construction material with low or zero emission. The viscosity of the MAESO–MVA system can be tailored to meet the commercial requirements. Increasing the MVA content accelerates the crosslinking reaction rate and improves thermal and mechanical properties of the MAESO–MVA system. The glass transition temperature increases with increasing MVA content. Soxhlet extraction experiments show that more than 90% of the components are incorporated into the crosslinking network. Overall, the developed MVA monomer shows promising properties to be used as an effective, green comonomer to replace styrene.