Rheumatic heart disease in India

A cross-sectional study was carried out in rural areas of Jawan Block, District Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, covering a total population of 3760 drawn from 11 villages. The total number of confirmed cases of rheumatic heart disease was 24 with a prevalence rate of 6.4 per 1000 of the general rural population. The prevalence of rheumatic heart disease increased with age until the age of 25 years. Females were more prone to rheumatic heart disease compared to males. Socio-economic class had a direct impact on the occurrence of rheumatic heart disease.     

Cost and sensitivity analysis for photovoltaic station in Kuwait

A full analysis is shown in this paper for the cost of kWh generated from photovoltaic station located in Kuwait. By using a 21 years weather data for Kuwait, the yearly generated energy was found by proposing the PV station capacity with known panels tilt angle. The cost of kWh generated from PV station was compared with the kWh generated from conventional units in the country. A sensitivity analysis was done to some factors; capital cost per installed PV peak watt, discount rate, and operating peak hours, which affect the cost of kWh production from both PV and conventional units. If the PV station is proposed to be installed in Kuwait, the capital cost per PV installed peak watt must be less than today's prices.     

Diurnal and environmental characterization of solar photovoltaic panels using a PC-AT add on plug in card

This article describes the development of an instrumentation system for characterizing photovoltaic panels. It uses an add on card (which contains DAC, ADC and digital input/output ports) in conjunction with a PC-AT. The panels in a field are selected in succession through a set of relays actuated by the digital output port. The selected panel is loaded in discreet steps by a transistor loading circuit which is activated by the digital to analog convertor to trace the most significant portion of the I-V curve. The data shows that the power output is invariably lower than that specified by the manufacturer. The reasons for drop in output have been analyzed. It is shown that these effects can be represented by the curvature of I-V characteristic at the maximum power point (OP). The loss of power due to accumulation of dust and the increase in temperature of the panels can be significant.     

Differential cellular response within the rabbit tendon unit following tendon injury

Since 1975, 340 patients were treated by tracheal sleeve resection for tracheal or subglottic laryngeal iatrogenic stenoses in our unit. Preoperative iterative Nd YAG laser sessions have usually been performed, without success. The length of the sleeve specimen was an average of 3 1/4 cm. Twelve patients died on the post operative course (3.5%), 3 more patients died later after failure of the procedure (0.9%) and nineteen had recurrent stenoses treated with use of a tracheostomy tube, a permanent Montgomery tube, or an endotracheal stent (5.6%). Three hundred and six patients are definitely cured (90%), at the first attempt for 265 patients, after a laser session for granulomas for 20 patients, after a second tracheal resection for 6 patients and after a temporary Montgomery tube for 15 patients. Providing there is a good selection of the patients, tracheal sleeve resection is the best treatment for iatrogenic stenosis.     

Study of Lateral Spread of Ions Emitted from 2.3 kJ Plasma Focus with Hydrogen and Nitrogen Gases

The characteristics of ion beams of hydrogen and nitrogen with different filling pressures emitted from the plasma focus device of 2.3 kJ energy are investigated. CR-39 SSNTDs are employed for the registration of tracks of ions. The exposed detectors are etched in 6N NaOH solution at 70°C and then examined with an optical microscope. The ion flux is estimated to be of the order of 10^5–6 tracks/cm². The flux with the radial position does not exhibit any regular pattern of variation.     

Activation of large-conductance potassium channels in pregnant human myometrium by pinacidil

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate the effects of the potassium-channel opener pinacidil on single uterine potassium channels and the contribution of the latter to pinacidil-induced myometrial relaxation. STUDY DESIGN: Myometrial strips and freshly dispersed uterine myocytes were prepared from the myometrial biopsy samples of women undergoing elective, nonlabor caesarean section at term gestation. RESULTS: In isometric tension experiments pinacidil potently relaxed pregnant nonlabor human myometrial strips, with an agonist concentration yielding the half maximal response of 0.4 +/- 0.1 micromol/L. This effect was antagonized by 500 nmol/L charybdotoxin. Application of 10 micromol/L glibenclamide also inhibited the pinacidil-induced relaxation. Coapplication of charybdotoxin (500 nmol/L) and glibenclamide (10 micromol/L) produced a biphasic curve, which was fitted to a two-site model with values for agonist concentration yielding the half maximal response of 0.6 +/- 0.2 micromol/L and 189.7 +/- 0.8 micromol/L. Large-conductance calcium-dependent potassium channel activity was dramatically increased after application of pinacidil (between 10 and 100 micromol/L) to both inside-out and outside-out patches. The activation required the presence of calcium ions at the intracellular aspect of the membrane. Charybdotoxin but not glibenclamide blocked pinacidil-induced unitary large-conductance calcium-dependent potassium channel activity. CONCLUSION: Pinacidil-mediated relaxation of human pregnant myometrial strips may be partially attributable to the opening of uterine large-conductance calcium-dependent potassium channels in addition to adenosine triphosphate potassium channel activation. Drugs with specific potassium channel-activating properties may have important clinical application as novel tocolytics in the treatment of preterm labor.