The primary objective of the study was to assess the Tubercle of zuckerkandl (TZ) during thyroid surgeries and its relationship with RLN and Superior parathyroid (SP). A prospective study was done in, 30 consecutive cases of total thyroidectomy in whom per operatively TZ was identified. The presence of TZ, its laterality, size, relationship with RLN and parathyroid glands were documented. A grading system outlined by Pelizzo was applied in our current study. In majority of the cases the RLN was found to lie medial to TZ (26/30), followed by lateral position (3/30) and one case it was found to be posterior to TZ (1/30). The superior parathyroid was identified in close relation (< 2 cm) to the TZ in 27/30 cases. The distance between the TZ and SP was assessed. We proposed a classification for location of SP based on the distance between SP and TZ and also attempted to relate each class of SP location with TZ grade. There was strong association of Grade of TZ with the class of SP location (p value = 0.00046). TZ is constant surgical landmark with good reliability to identify the RLN and SP. RLN is found medial to TZ in majority of cases with few exceptions. SP is found to be closely associated with TZ in majority of cases and there is a strong relationship of proximity of SP and TZ with respect to TZ grade. Although this required further studies with larger population.

Objective: To determine the seasonal and geographical impact on plant secondary metabolite production and antimicrobial activity. Methods: Three mangrove plants viz., Ceriops tagal, Bruguiera cylindrica and Lumnitzera racemosa commonly found in Gilakaladindi and Malakayalanka regions of Krishna Estuary, Andhra Pradesh, India were selected for the present study. The study was done during 2014-15 summer, rainy and winter in both the stations. Leaf samples were extracted with methanol and subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening. The methanolic leaf extracts were tested against bacterial pathogens Bacillus cereus, B. subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and a fungal pathogen Candida albicans. Results: The methanolic extracts of leaves collected during rainy season showed maximum zone of inhibition at both the stations Gilakaladindi and Malakayalanka. Among the studied plants leaf methanolic extract of C.tagal was recorded maximum antibacterial activity against B. subtilis and B. cereus (18±0.05 mm), followed by Bruguiera cylindrica both at Gilakaladindi and Malakayalanka respectively. But the extracts of L.racemosa showed less inhibition activity (7±0.00 mm) in all the seasons at both the stations. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that mangroves produce bio-active compounds optimally in rainy season that are effective against microbial proliferation which may further help in synthesis of natural antibiotics in place of commercial antibiotics to heal infectious diseases.

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have gained considerable attention in recent years for application in electric vehicles, portable devices, and cogeneration systems. Large scale commercialization of PEMFCs mainly requires addressing the high cost issues associated with the fuel cell stack in addition to the challenges associated in building H2 infrastructure. Though, significant amount of research has been carried out in developing low Pt loaded Membrane Electrode Assemblies to meet the 2020 DOE performance targets for automotive applications, there are still challenges associated in meeting durability requirements due to catalyst layer and membrane degradation. It is well documented voltage cycling during start-up/shutdown process leads to Pt dissolution and loss of electrochemical surface area of Pt and thereby affecting the durability. Fuel cells stacks need to be robust against both specific and non-specific failure modes. Specific failure modes of MEA can be predicted by operating conditions/parameters, however non-specific failure mode such as cell reversal is difficult to predict. Though, system level mitigation can be employed to minimize the impact of cell reversal, there is a potential cost trade-off associated with this approach. Ballard1 was first to develop and report the impact of cell reversal tolerance above sub-zero conditions with and without cell reversal tolerance catalyst in the MEA. Cell reversals2 can occur mainly during reactant starvation and especially during H2 starvation under freeze start-up operation. This presentation will focus on evaluating the impact of operating parameters on cell reversal under sub-zero conditions and will highlight the mechanism and potential ways to improve cell reversal tolerance under sub-zero conditions. Figure 1 shows the impact of current density on cell reversal tolerance under sub-zero conditions3. As it can be seen, significant reduction in sub-zero reversal tolerance noticed with current density. To the best of our knowledge, we evaluated for the first time, the cell reversal tolerance under sub-zero conditions. References S.D.Knights, D.P.Wilkinson, S.A. Cambell, J.L.Taylor, J.M. Gascoyne and T.R. Ralph, Solid polymer fuel cell with improved voltage reversal tolerance. US Patent 6936370. C. Qin, J. Wang, D. Yang, B. Li and C. Zhang, Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Reversal:A Review, Catalysts, 6, 2016, 197. R.Bashyam, J.Bellerive, P.He, Fuel cell system and method of operating fuel cell system, German Patent application DE102016207786A1 Acknowledgement We thank Volkswagen AG and Audi for funding this work. Figure 1

Microbial enzymes especially of fungal origin from mangrove habitats attract great attention due to their broad industrial applications. The present study is aimed at screening and optimization of chitinase production by mangrove fungi Stachybotrys chlorohalonata. The fungal isolates were screened for chitinase production and the chitinase production was estimated by modified colorimetric method described by Reissig et al. (1955). Among 56 fungal strains isolated from mangrove sediment, S. chlorohalonata was found to produce significant amount of chitinase. Maximum production of chitinase was found in optimized culture medium viz. Czapek-Dox broth (pH 7.0) amended with colloidal chitin (1%) and peptone (1%) as carbon and nitrogen sources and incubated at 30 ° C for 18 days. The mangrove fungus S. chlorohalonata is capable of producing higher levels of chitinase, which gives a hope for industrial exploitation.

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are considered as one of the most promising alternatives to internal combustion engines (ICEs). In a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), the technology provides high energy conversion efficiency and power density at relatively low operating temperatures, with zero or low greenhouse gases emissions. Materials and systems research and development over the last decade have significantly improved the output power and lifetime of the PEMFC stacks. For wide adoption of PEMFCs to replace ICEs, continuing improvements in durability and cost are required. Cell voltage polarity reversal can result in irreversible damage of materials in the PEMFC membrane electrode assembly (MEA), gas diffusion layer (GDL), and even the bipolar plates [1], especially in fuel starvation caused cell reversal events. A number of circumstances can lead to fuel starvation, such as ice formation and severe water flooding which block the anode reactant channels, a sudden change in reactant demand due to load change, and improper reactant control during fuel cell start-up [2]. In fuel starvation caused cell reversal events, carbon oxidation (MEA material degradation) or oxygen evolution reaction (OER, i.e., water electrolysis) will take place to sustain the current generated from unaffected neighbor cells in the fuel cell stack. To avoid the detrimental oxidation of MEA materials, the water electrolysis process is preferred to be promoted by incorporating OER catalysts into the anode catalyst layer. Ruthenium and iridium based oxides are state-of-art PEM water electrolyzer (PEMWE) catalysts. In spite of their different anode layer design and operating conditions, the OER activity and stability of these catalysts have been investigated as the reversal tolerant catalyst (RTC) in PEMFCs [3]. Ru based catalysts provide high OER catalytic activity and increase the fuel cell reversal tolerance. However, they are prone to degradation due to insufficient stability in the PEMFC environment and operating condition. In PEMWE, the catalyst is expected to be stable at potentials higher than 1.4V, on the other hand, in PEMFC, the OER catalyst in the anode is required to be robust to potential swings between 0V to 1V (vs. SHE), because of the fuel cell start-up and shutdown processes. Considering the structure of the anode compartment, the OER catalyst is in direct contact with the electrode substrate in PEMWE, whereas in PEMFC, carbon supported platinum (Pt/C) catalyst of the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) is also incorporated in the anode layer. The presence of Pt/C catalyst adds further complication toward the development of reversal tolerant anode since the carbon corrosion resistance is also required to be considered. Figure 1.a reveals an example in which using the same OER catalyst with similar loading, the cell reversal tolerance for two anode HOR catalyst designs can be significantly different. In this study, the impact of OER catalyst activity and stability on fuel cell reversal tolerance and durability is explored. Also, the strategic pathways to improve both the reversal tolerance and durability of OER catalysts in PEMFC are discussed. It has been demonstrated that these approaches can provide remarkable reversal tolerance without a significant trade-off in the performance and durability of the fuel cell. Figure 1.b shows that by catalyst treatment, both cell reversal tolerance and durability of the anode layer have been improved. References: [1] J. Wu, X. Z. Yuan, J. J. Martin, H. Wang, J. Zhang, J. Shen, S. Wu, W. Merida, J. Power Sources 184 (2008) 104–119. [2] A. Taniguchi, T. Akita, K. Yasuda, and Y. Miyazaki, J. Power Sources 130 (2004), 42–49. [3] E. Fabbri, A. Habereder, K. Waltar, R. Kötz, T. J. Schmidt, Catal. Sci. Technol. 2014, 4 (11), 3800–3821. [4] P. He, T. Cheng, R. Bashyam, A. Young and S. Knights; ECS Transactions, 33 (2010) 1273–1279. Figure 1

Studies on seasonal incidence of diamondback moth Plutella xylostella. Infesting cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.) work were carried out at the college of Shiats, Allahabad during 2015-2016. The P. xylostella damage was active throughout the year with a varying degree of infestation. It was recorded from a minimum of 0.32 per cent (second fortnight of Febuary) to maximum of 5.98 per cent (third fortnight of March). A study on the correlation studies indicated a significant positive correlation between larval population of diamondback moth and. the relative humidity (R.H), total rainfall and sunshine hours (SSH) had negative correlation with the larval population of diamondback moth.

OBJECTIVETo determine the efficacy of routine placement of drain after Thyroid surgery. To compare patients undergoing thyroid surgery without placement of suction drain versus patients undergoing surgery with placement of suction drain.METHODOLOGYThis is a Single Surgeon's Clinical study over a period of 8 years in 2 teaching hospitals; 112 patients undergoing thyroid surgeries for various diagnoses from July 2007 to August 2015 were studied retrospectively. Variables taken into account were duration of hospital stay, postoperative pain and postoperative complications.RESULTSThe study included 112 patients undergoing thyroid surgeries being grouped into two groups. The length of the hospital stay was reduced in the no drain group. Mean duration of hospital stay was 5+/-1.78 days in drain group and 2+/-0.72 in no drain group. But no significant difference was found between the groups in the postoperative complications like haematoma and seroma formation.CONCLUSIONDrains should be used only in selected cases of Thyroid surgeries. Drainless thyroidectomy causes less discomfort, short hospital stay and does not increase the risk of postoperative complications.

Introduction For many fuel cell system applications hydrogen has to be generated from locally available fuels due to the difficulty to store and transport hydrogen gas. Methanol is one of the high hydrogen content liquid fuels that is readily available in many geographic areas and provides a suitable FC fuel. A fuel processing system, including a reformation stage is usually used to convert the methanol to hydrogen gas to feed to the anode channels of the PEMFC stack. The fuel processor is required to meet specific technical and market demands, such as cost, fuel efficiency and purity levels (e.g., CO, methanol concentration) in its output fuel stream. Meeting those constraints requires a number of reformer and fuel cell stack design trade-offs. For this reason, every reformate based fuel cell system is the result of a series of compromises [1]. In order to understand reformer requirements, a study was conducted on the impacts of a small amount of methanol present in the reformate stream. The goal of this communication is to discuss the impacts of methanol in the reformer output stream on the fuel cell anode performance and durability. Experimental An artificial gas mixture of 71%H 2 , 20% CO 2 , 8% N 2 , and 1% methanol vapor was used to mimic the reformer output fuel stream. All the fuel cell tests were conducted on a Ballard standard research testing cell with an active MEA geometry area of 45cm 2 . The anode was made with a CO tolerant electrode with 0.1 mg/cm 2 PtRu/C catalyst, and the cathode contains 0.4 mg/cm 2 Pt/C. The cell operation temperature was 75 o C, under 5 psig and 100% RH for both MEA sides. The gas flow rates were set to a very high level in order to keep the reactants concentrations approximately uniform across the MEA active area. In order to understand the methanol impact, a dynamic hydrogen electrode (DHE) was mounted onto some of the MEAs to examine the anode and the cathode potentials [2]. Methanol impact on MEA CO tolerance and the anode stability in an accelerating stress testing (AST) were investigated. This AST is used to accelerate the anode degradation in start-up/shutdown processes [3]. Results and Discussions Figure 1 gives the MEA performances with and without the presence of 1% methanol vapor. The polarization behaviors of anode and cathode measured against the DHE are also given in the same plot. As we can see the introduction of 1 % methanol significantly decreased the MEA performance, and this performance loss is dominantly due to cathode performance loss, although the methanol was introduced in the anode side. In-situ cathode cyclic voltammograms were conducted and confirmed that a significant amount of methanol crossed over to the cathode side. The oxidation of the crossover methanol in the oxygen rich cathode occupied the oxygen reduction (ORR) sites and resulted in the decreased ORR activity. In addition, the methanol oxidation current also reduced the ORR current output efficiency. A small stream of air is commonly introduced into the anode under reformed fuel operation in order to oxidize any carbon monoxide present, referred to as “air bleed”. An anode air bleed sensitivity test was used to evaluate the anode catalyst layer CO tolerance. We found that in spite of the lower performance in the presence of methanol, methanol did not significantly impact the air bleed sensitivity. It has been found [3,4] that one of the MEA performance loss failure modes is Ru crossover to the cathode side in reformate tolerant anode designs, due to the use of Ru/C catalyst to improve CO tolerance. The impact of methanol on Ru stability in fuel cell start up /shutdown processes was also studied in this research. More detailed discussion will be presented. References [1] D. G. Loffler, K. Taylor, D. Mason; J. Power Sources; 117 84-91 (2003) [2] V. M. Lauritzen, P. He, A. P. Young, S. Knights, V. Colbow, and P. Beattie; J. New Mat for Electrochem. Sys. 143, (2007). [3] P. He, T. T. H. Cheng, R. Bashyam, A. P. Young and S. Knights; ECS Transactions, 33 (1) 1273-1279 (2010) [4] R. Bashyam, P. He, S. Wessel and S. Knights; ECS Transactions, 41 (1) 837-844 (2011)

A new method is developed for synthesizing Ti4O7 supported Ru@Pt core-shell catalyst (Ru@Pt/Ti4O7) through pyrolysis followed by microwave irradiation. The purpose is to improve the Ru durability of PtRu from core-shell structure and strong bonding to Ti4O2 oxide. In this method, the first step is to co-reduce the mixture of ruthenium precursor and TiO2 in a H-2 reducing atmosphere under heat-treatment to obtain a Ru core on Ti4O7 support, and the second step is to create a shell of platinum via microwave irradiation. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, X-ray Diffraction, High-resolution Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy with the high-angle annular dark-field method and Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy are used to demonstrate that this catalyst with larger particles has a core-shell structure with a Ru core and a Pt shell. Electrochemical measurements show Ru@Pt/Ti4O7 catalyst has a higher CO-tolerance capability than that of PtRu/C alloy catalyst. (c) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Background: The acute angle produced medially when the axis of the forearm deviates laterally from the long axis of the humerus, with the arm extended and the palm facing forward, is referred to as the carrying angle. Variations in the angle have clinical as well as pathological significance. Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate the elbow carrying angle in normal adolescents of South India and also analyze the data statistically to find out any significant difference in the angle between the different groups of subjects within the study population. Methods: 60 adolescents with ages varying from 17 to 20 years were evaluated. Carrying angles formed by the long axis of the humerus and ulna, were measured. Results: The result of the study showed that the average carrying angle was 13.6 degrees for females and 6.7 degrees for males. The length of the forearm and the carrying angle showed significant relation. Conclusion: The result of the study could be useful in the management of elbow displacement, fractures, epicondylar disease and surgical planning for elbow reconstruction.

A series of C-doped, W-doped, and C,W-codoped TiO2 samples have been prepared using modified sol-gel techniques. Reproducible inexpensive C-doping arises from the presence of melamine borate in a sol-gel mixture, whereas W-doping is from the addition of tungstic acid to the sol. The materials have been characterized using elemental analysis, N-2 physisorption (BET), thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, Raman, X-ray photoelectron, UV-vis spectroscopies, and photocatalytic activity measurements. Doping C and W independently results in an increased absorbance in the visible region of the spectrum with a synergistic effect in increased absorbance when both elements are codoped. The increased visible-light absorbance of the W-doped or codoped materials is not reflected in photocatalytic activity. Visible-light-induced photocatalytic activity of C-doped material was superior to that of an undoped catalyst, paving the way for its application under only visible-light irradiation conditions. A significant fraction of the spectral red shift commonly observed with doped catalysts might be due to the formation of color centers as a result of defects associated with oxygen vacancies, and bandgap-related narrowing or intragap localization of dopant levels are not the only factors responsible for enhanced visible-light absorption in doped photocatalysts. Furthermore, bandgap narrowing through increases in the energy of the valence band may actually decrease photo-oxidation activity through a curtailment of one route of oxidation.

Automated docking was performed on a series of thiazolo[5,4-f]quinazolin-9-one derivatives as GSK-3β inhibitors. The docking technique was employed to dock a set of representative compounds within the active site region of 1UV5 using AutoDock 3.05. For these compounds, the correlation between binding free energy (kcal/mol) and IC50 (μM) values were examined. The docking simulation clearly predicted the binding mode that is nearly similar to the crystallographic binding mode within 1.0 Å RMSD. Based on the validations and interactions made by R1 and R2 substituents, inhibitor design was initiated by considering simple combinations. For the designed compounds where the interactions and dock scores are being considered for evaluation, compound 17 exhibited large binding energy (-13.14 kcal/mol) against GSK-3β than the remaining. The results help to understand the type of interactions that occur between designed ligands with GSK-3β binding site region and explain the importance of R1 and R2 substitutions on thiazolo[5,4-f]quinazolin-9-one derivatives.