Sustainable mining of natural vein graphite via acid-extraction from waste attached to rock pieces of vein banks.

A procedure based on acid extraction using a mixture of conc. sulfuric and nitric acids (8:1) to recover graphite attached to rock pieces of the vein contact zones of graphite mines, is developed as a sustainable mining practice. When the extracted graphite is heated at 600 °C for 15 min, it is converted to a highly expanded form resembling worm-like structures.

Paternalistic leadership as a double-edged sword: Analysis of the Sri Lankan President's response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Despite the challenges facing small economies, leadership research has given scant attention to leaders' behaviour in those countries during crises. Using seemingly paradoxical domains of paternalistic leadership theory: authoritarian, benevolent and moral leader behaviour, together with concepts like populism from the political science domain, we analyse how Sri Lanka's 'strongman' President provided a façade of paternalistic leadership during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through analysis of written and verbal content (public speeches, independent reports and government media output), we show how the power exercised through authoritarian, as opposed to authoritative behaviour, together with espoused morality and benevolence, appears to have been effective in the short term in containing the pandemic.

The effect of optic neuritis treatment trial (ONTT) combined corticosteroid regimen on pattern reversal visual evoked potentials: a prospective follow-up study.

Background: The combined corticosteroid regimen of the original Optic Neuritis Treatment Trial (ONTT) is used in many centers to treat optic neuritis. Though pattern reversal visual evoked potentials (PRVEPs) are a sensitive, standard measure of visual conduction in optic neuritis, no studies hitherto have investigated the effect of combined ONTT regimen on PRVEPs. We aimed to determine the effect of combined corticosteroid regimen of the ONTT on changes of PRVEPs in patients with first-episode optic neuritis over 3 months post-treatment.

Biological Activity of Porcine Gastric Mucin on Stress Resistance and Immunomodulation.

Purified porcine gastric mucin (PGM) is an alternative biomaterial to native mucin which displays multifunctional properties for exploring a wide range of biomedical applications. The present study evaluated the in vitro (RAW 264.7 macrophage cells) and in vivo (zebrafish embryos and larvae) bioactivities of PGM.