Clinical presentation and mortality risk factors for COVID-19 among diabetic patients in a tertiary care center in South India.

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCD) like hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are the most common comorbidities among COVID-19 patients. The clinical presentation and mortality pattern of COVID-19 are different for patients with comorbidities and without comorbidities.

Objective: To determine the clinical presentation of COVID-19 and risk factors for COVID-19 mortality among diabetic patients in a tertiary care hospital in South India.

Antidiabetic activity of fruit extract in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Background: Swartz, a medicinal plant belonging to the family Solanaceae, is an important medicinal plant widely distributed throughout the world and used as medicine to treat diabetes, hypertension, tooth decay, and reproductive problems in traditional systems of medicine around the world including Malaysia. The objective of this study was to investigate hypoglycemic, antilipidemic, and hepatoprotective activities, histopathology of the pancreas, and specific glucose regulating gene expression of the ethanolic extract of fruit in streptozotocin-induced diabetic Sprague-Dawley rats.

Materials And Methods: Acute toxicity study was done according to OECD-423 guidelines.

Rapid microwave hydrothermal processed spinel CoOnanospheres infused N-doped graphene nanosheets for high-performance battery.

Spinel CoOnanospheres have been synthesized by the microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. The N-doped graphene nanosheets (NGN) were synthesized using Hummer's method. The prepared spinel CoOand NGN were mixed under certain proportions using an ultrasonication process and treated with microwave radiation to prepare a novel spinel CoOnanospheres infused NGN.

Clinical profile and risk factors for mortality among COVID-19 inpatients at a tertiary care centre in Bengaluru, India.

COVID-19 is an emerging viral disease affecting more than 200 countries worldwide and it present with varied clinical profile throughout the world. Without effective drugs to cure COVID-19, early identification and control of risk factors are important measures to combat COVID-19.  This study was conducted to determine the clinical profile and risk factors associated with mortality among COVID-19 patients in a tertiary care hospital in South India.

Reliability of Emergency Department Diagnosis in Identifying the Etiology of Nontraumatic Undifferentiated Hypotension.

Introduction: Nontraumatic undifferentiated hypotension is one of the common and challenging critical presentations in the emergency department (ED) due to the difficulty in diagnosing the etiology of shock. In the present study, an attempt was made to test point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) as an early approach to improve the accuracy of diagnosis and to narrow the differentials in cases of nontraumatic undifferentiated hypotension.

Materials And Methods: This is a prospective explorative study conducted in the ED of a tertiary care hospital over a period of 18 months.

Role of quercetin and caloric restriction on the biomolecular composition of aged rat cerebral cortex: An FTIR study.

Aging brain is characterized by a change in biomolecular composition leading to a diverse range of neurological diseases. Anti-aging research is of current interest, to lessen the burden of age-related macromolecular damage through antioxidant supplementation and caloric restriction. However, data concerning the effect of these anti-aging regimens on age-related biomolecular changes in rat brain is still lacking.

Patient safety at a public hospital in southern India: A hospital administration perspective using a mixed methods approach.

Background: Patient safety cannot be considered in isolation when organizational factors, both active and latent, influence patient outcomes.

Methods: We did a cross-sectional mixed methods study using a convergent parallel design at a tertiary care public sector hospital in Hyderabad, Telangana (i) to qualitatively investigate the nature and determinants of patient safety incidents occurring in the hospital; (ii) to quantify the perception of hospital staff regarding factors affecting patient safety from an organizational perspective; and (iii) to triangulate the results to highlight areas in need of improvement.

Results: The most common factors affecting patient safety were situational factors, working conditions and latent organizational factors including communication systems.

Microwave hydrothermal synthesis of α-MnMoO nanorods for high electrochemical performance supercapacitors.

Pristine α-MnMoO nanorods were facilely prepared co-precipitation (Cp) and microwave hydrothermal (MH) methods. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns showed pure monoclinic crystalline phase α-MnMoO for the heat treated powder at 500 °C. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra showed that the chemical bond structure of α-MnMoO corresponds to the strong vibrational modes of Mo-O-Mo, Mo-O and Mo[double bond, length as m-dash]O.

Chitosan nanoparticles having higher degree of acetylation induce resistance against pearl millet downy mildew through nitric oxide generation.

Downy mildew of pearl millet caused by the biotrophic oomycete Sclerospora graminicola is the most devastating disease which impairs pearl millet production causing huge yield and monetary losses. Chitosan nanoparticles (CNP) were synthesized from low molecular weight chitosan having higher degree of acetylation was evaluated for their efficacy against downy mildew disease of pearl millet caused by Sclerospora graminicola. Laboratory studies showed that CNP seed treatment significantly enhanced pearl millet seed germination percentage and seedling vigor compared to the control.

Elicitation of resistance and associated defense responses in Trichoderma hamatum induced protection against pearl millet downy mildew pathogen.

Endophytic Trichoderma hamatum UoM 13 isolated from pearl millet roots was evaluated for its efficiency to suppress downy mildew disease. Under laboratory conditions, T. hamatum seed treatment significantly enhanced pearl millet seed germination and seedling vigor.

Correlation of nanoscale behaviour of forces and macroscale surface wettability.

In this manuscript, we demonstrate a method based on atomic force microscopy which enables local probing of surface wettability. The maximum pull-off force, obtained from force spectroscopy shows a remarkable correlation with the macroscopically observed water contact angle, measured over a wide variety of surfaces starting from hydrophilic, all the way through to hydrophobic ones. This relationship, consequently, facilitates the establishment of a universal behaviour.

Atomic Scale Interface Manipulation, Structural Engineering, and Their Impact on Ultrathin Carbon Films in Controlling Wear, Friction, and Corrosion.

Reducing friction, wear, and corrosion of diverse materials/devices using <2 nm thick protective carbon films remains challenging, which limits the developments of many technologies, such as magnetic data storage systems. Here, we present a novel approach based on atomic scale interface manipulation to engineer and control the friction, wear, corrosion, and structural characteristics of 0.7-1.

Ultrathin Carbon with Interspersed Graphene/Fullerene-like Nanostructures: A Durable Protective Overcoat for High Density Magnetic Storage.

One of the key issues for future hard disk drive technology is to design and develop ultrathin (<2 nm) overcoats with excellent wear- and corrosion protection and high thermal stability. Forming carbon overcoats (COCs) having interspersed nanostructures by the filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) process can be an effective approach to achieve the desired target. In this work, by employing a novel bi-level surface modification approach using FCVA, the formation of a high sp(3) bonded ultrathin (~1.

Electrochemical characterization of electrospun nanocomposite polymer blend electrolyte fibrous membrane for lithium battery.

Novel hybrid (organic/inorganic) electrospun nanocomposite polymer blend electrolyte fibrous membranes with the composition poly(vinylidene difluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) [P(VdF-co-HFP)]/poly(methyl methacrylate) [P(MMA)]/magnesium aluminate (MgAl2O4)/LiPF6 were prepared by the electrospinning technique. All of the prepared electrospun P(VdF-co-HFP), PMMA blend [90% P(VdF-co-HFP)/10% PMMA], and nanocomposite polymer blend [90% P(VdF-co-HFP)/10% PMMA/x wt % MgAl2O4 (x = 2, 4, 6, and 8)] fibrous membranes were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and scanning electron microscopy. The fibrous nanocomposite separator-cum-polymer blend electrolyte membranes were obtained by soaking the nanocomposite polymer blend membranes in an electrolyte solution containing 1 M LiPF6 in ethylene carbonate (EC)/diethyl carbonate (DEC) (1:1, v/v).

Understanding the role of nitrogen in plasma-assisted surface modification of magnetic recording media with and without ultrathin carbon overcoats.

A novel scheme of pre-surface modification of media using mixed argon-nitrogen plasma is proposed to improve the protection performance of 1.5 nm carbon overcoats (COC) on media produced by a facile pulsed DC sputtering technique. We observe stable and lower friction, higher wear resistance, higher oxidation resistance, and lower surface polarity for the media sample modified in 70%Ar + 30%N2 plasma and possessing 1.

Probing the role of carbon microstructure on the thermal stability and performance of ultrathin (<2 nm) overcoats on L10 FePt media for heat-assisted magnetic recording.

An understanding of the factors influencing the thermal stability of ultrathin carbon overcoats (COCs) is crucial for their application in heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) at densities ≥ 1 Tb/in(2). Two types of non-hydrogenated ultrathin (∼1.5 nm) COCs were investigated after being subjected to laser-induced localized heating (at temperatures > 700 K) as envisaged in HAMR.

Note: On the generation of sub-300 keV flash-X-rays using rod-pinch diode: an experimental investigation.

Generation of flash X-rays (FXRs) at less than 500 keV is described with emphasis on experimental investigation. The pulser is a Tesla transformer-Water transmission line based pulsed power generator operating in double resonance mode to power a rod-pinch diode. The configuration of aspect ratio reported here falls much below the normally reported ratios for the rod-pinch diode operation.

Enhanced tribological, corrosion, and microstructural properties of an ultrathin (<2 nm) silicon nitride/carbon bilayer overcoat for high density magnetic storage.

An ultrathin bilayer overcoat of silicon nitride and carbon (SiNx/C) providing low friction, high wear resistance, and high corrosion resistance is proposed for future generation hard disk media. The 16 Å thick SiNx/C overcoat consists of an atomically thin SiNx underlayer (4 Å) and a carbon layer (12 Å), fabricated by reactive magnetron sputtering and filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA), respectively. When compared with monolithic overcoats of FCVA-deposited carbon (16 Å) and sputtered SiNx (16 Å), the SiNx/C bilayer overcoat demonstrated the best tribological performance with a coefficient of friction < 0.

Probing the role of an atomically thin SiNx interlayer on the structure of ultrathin carbon films.

Filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) processed carbon films are being considered as a promising protective media overcoat material for future hard disk drives (HDDs). However, at ultrathin film levels, FCVA-deposited carbon films show a dramatic change in their structure in terms of loss of sp3 bonding, density, wear resistance etc., compared to their bulk counterpart.

Involvement of human topoisomerase II isoforms in HIV-1 reverse transcription.

HIV-1 reverse transcription (RTn) involves synthesis of double strand DNA (dsDNA) from viral genomic RNA. Topoisomerase II (Topo II) alpha and beta maintains topological reorganization of dsDNA regions and catalytic inhibition of these isoforms repressed viral replicative cycle. Present study is aimed to understand the role of Topo II isoforms in HIV-1 early replication.

Nanofibers: effective generation by electrospinning and their applications.

Electrospinning is the most versatile technology in use today, for the generation of polymer nanoscale fibers. The nano materials generated using this technology have a large surface area and are highly porous making it very useful in many applications in diverse fields such as energy storage, healthcare, biotechnology, environmental engineering, defense and security. The production of the fibers and the morphology can be easily controlled by modifications to the processing parameters.

Identifying the mechanisms of polymer friction through molecular dynamics simulation.

Mechanisms governing the tribological behavior of polymer-on-polymer sliding were investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. Three main mechanisms governing frictional behavior were identified. Interfacial "brushing" of molecular chain ends over one another was observed as the key contribution to frictional forces.

Clinical outcomes following a strategy of optimized medical management and selective "downstream" procedures following coronary computed tomography angiography.

Background: Prior studies have shown a consistent relationship between coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores or the degree of coronary stenoses on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and all-cause mortality. Whether CCTA-targeted therapy, including intensive medical management, stress testing and/or invasive coronary angiography (ICA), can lead to a substantial reduction in adverse outcomes is not yet known.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 691 patients (55±13 years, male=63%) from a single medical practice who underwent a CAC scan and CCTA and were followed for a mean of 2.

Chemical characteristics of groundwater and assessment of groundwater quality in Varaha River Basin, Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Study on chemical characteristics of groundwater and impacts of groundwater quality on human health, plant growth, and industrial sector is essential to control and improve the water quality in every part of the country. The area of the Varaha River Basin is chosen for the present study, where the Precambrian Eastern Ghats underlain the Recent sediments. Groundwater quality is of mostly brackish and very hard, caused by the sources of geogenic, anthropogenic, and marine origin.

Tribological characterization of a biocompatible thin film of UHMWPE on Ti6Al4V and the effects of PFPE as top lubricating layer.

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) thin film was coated onto Ti6Al4V alloy specimens using dip coating method. Tribological performance of this coating (thickness of 19.6 ± 2.