Sumeet Kumar Sharma

Results of surgical reconstruction in patients with renal failure owing to ureteropelvic junction obstruction.

During the last 6 years we managed 20 patients with renal failure owing to bilateral ureteropelvic junction obstruction (12) or ipsilateral ureteropelvic junction obstruction with contralateral renal agenesis, hypoplasia or dysplasia (8). Of the patients 11 underwent emergency dialysis for hyperkalemia, fluid overload or metabolic acidosis. Mean serum creatinine at presentation was 6.5 mg. per cent. Preliminary decompression of the obstructed kidney was done in 14 patients (20 renal units) with a serum creatinine of more than 3 mg. per cent at presentation. Reconstruction was done in all patients (31 of 36 renal units) after decompression and control of infection. Pyeloplasty was done in 24 renal units, vesicopyelostomy in 3 pelvic kidneys and calicoureteroplasty in 2 renal units with an intrarenal pelvis. Two renal units were removed. All patients showed improvement in renal function and the mean postoperative serum creatinine value was 2.05 mg. per cent. The postoperative serum creatinine value showed a significant positive correlation with the initial value as well as with the initial blood urea levels. However, the postoperative serum creatinine value showed no correlation with patient age, duration of symptoms, serum creatinine level after preliminary nephrostomy and presence or absence of urinary infection. Postoperative recovery (on the basis of postoperative serum creatinine levels) in patients who had bilateral ureteropelvic junction obstruction was not different from those with a solitary functioning kidney and ureteropelvic junction obstruction.

Intrarenal Gas Abscess

Intrarenal abscess owing to gas-forming gram-negative bacteria is rare. Female patients and diabetics, or those with urinary calculi or obstructive uropathic conditions commonly are affected. We report on a nondiabetic man who was infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Initial medical management and subsequent partial nephrectomy offered cure.

Deformation induced electromagnetic response of soft and hard PZT under impact loading

ABSTRACT Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from soft and hard PZT under the drop weight impact have been studied. Due to impact the PZT undergoes a deformation wave which causes oscillations of dipoles within the PZT which give rise to electromagnetic radiation. The peak EMR voltage and the average EMR energy release rate show a linearly increasing pattern with the height of impact suggesting that these parameters could be used for monitoring excessive deformation from the structures. EMR peak voltage and average EMR energy release rate obtained from the soft PZT SP-5A are 43.42% and 53.12% higher respectively from those obtained from the hard PZT SP-4 owing to the higher resistance offered by the hard PZT to the domain switching.

Comparison of seed-derived with micropropagated male-sterile plants of Tagetes erecta L. for F1 hybrid seed production

Summary To multiply large number of male-sterile marigold plants for F1 hybrid seed production, an efficient protocol for in vitro cloning of field-grown differentiated male sterile plants has been developed. A comparative field performance study of tissue culture and seed-derived male sterile plants of two marigold genotypes was undertaken to test the possibility of using micropropagated plants in hybrid seed production. Tissue culture raised plants of both genotypes had superior field performance to the seed-derived counterparts. These plants were more vigorous in growth, i.e. in terms of plant height, number of secondary branches and number of leaves and plant spread, while the leaf chlorophyll contents were equal to that of seedling plants. Flowering was earlier by 2-3 weeks and the number of flowers per plant was also higher in such plants. Repeated hand pollination of sterile flowers with bagged flowers of cv. Pusa Narangi Gainda showed that seed set and bold seed yield were higher or almost comparable with the seed-derived plants. The results clearly indicate that the tissue culture can be adopted for the successful cloning of male-sterile plants, which could then be utilized for producing F1 seeds with higher quantities of bold seeds with better storability.

Photocatalytic self-cleaning transparent 2Bi2O3-B2O3 glass ceramics

Photocatalytic response of as-quenched and heat-treated 2Bi2O3-B2O3 glasses was studied. X ray diffraction reveals that the controlled heat treatment of glasses at 380 °C for 1 h, 2 h, and 3 h shows the formation of Bi4B2O9 crystals embedded in 2Bi2O3-B2O3 the host glass matrix. Scanning electron microscopic images reveal the presence of nanocrystallization in as-quenched glass. Significant photocatalytic activities were observed in as-quenched transparent glass. Photocatalytic activities were studied using the degradation of Resazurin as well as pharmaceutical 17 β-Estradiol under UV irradiation. Measurement of contact angle shows enhanced hydrophilicity with the increase in crystallization of the samples. Further, for as quenched 2Bi2O3-B2O3 glass ceramic, under UV irradiation, the water contact angle decreased from 92.7° to 39.5° and the sample surface transformed from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. Effective photocatalytic performance along with photoinduced hydrophilicity promotes 2Bi2O3-B2O3 glass ceramics in self-cleaning applications.Photocatalytic response of as-quenched and heat-treated 2Bi2O3-B2O3 glasses was studied. X ray diffraction reveals that the controlled heat treatment of glasses at 380 °C for 1 h, 2 h, and 3 h shows the formation of Bi4B2O9 crystals embedded in 2Bi2O3-B2O3 the host glass matrix. Scanning electron microscopic images reveal the presence of nanocrystallization in as-quenched glass. Significant photocatalytic activities were observed in as-quenched transparent glass. Photocatalytic activities were studied using the degradation of Resazurin as well as pharmaceutical 17 β-Estradiol under UV irradiation. Measurement of contact angle shows enhanced hydrophilicity with the increase in crystallization of the samples. Further, for as quenched 2Bi2O3-B2O3 glass ceramic, under UV irradiation, the water contact angle decreased from 92.7° to 39.5° and the sample surface transformed from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. Effective photocatalytic performance along with photoinduced hydrophilicity promotes 2Bi2O3-B2O3 glass cera...

Anti-phase boundary free two-dimensional epitaxial Fe3O4 thin films: evidence of an unquenched orbital magnetic moment at room temperature

Two-dimensional (2-D) epitaxial ferrimagnetic Fe3O4 thin films are attractive choices for the next generation of spin devices due to their half-metallicity, high Curie temperature and high electrical conductivity. Despite having profound spin device compatibility, the use of Fe3O4 thin films has not been exploited to date due to the presence of a magnetic disorder known as anti-phase boundaries (APBs). Here we demonstrate the growth of 2D single crystalline APB free Fe3O4(100) thin films on TiN buffered Si(100). The epitaxial orientation relationship, Si(400)//TiN(200)//Fe3O4(400), was confirmed by reflection high-energy electron diffraction and polarized Raman analysis. The Fe3O4(100) thin films possess large in-plane magnetic domains in its remanent magnetization state and cubic in-plane magnetic anisotropy as confirmed using magnetic force microscopy and magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements, respectively. The orbital to spin angular moment ratio, ml/ms = 0.144, and the total magnetic moment extracted from X-ray magnetism circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements are close to the corresponding bulk value.

Photocatalytic Active Bismuth Fluoride/Oxyfluoride Surface Crystallized 2Bi 2 O 3 -B 2 O 3 Glass–Ceramics

The present article deals with 2Bi2O3-B2O3 (BBO) glass whose photocatalytic activity has been enhanced by the method of wet etching using an aqueous solution of hydrofluoric acid (HF). X-ray diffraction of the samples reveals that etching with an aqueous solution of HF leads to the formation of BiF3 and BiO0.1F2.8 phases. Surface morphology obtained from scanning electron microscopy show granular and plate-like morphology on the etched glass samples. Rhodamine 6G (Rh 6G) has been used to investigate the photocatalytic activity of the as-quenched and etched glasses. Enhanced visible light-driven photocatalytic activity was observed in HF etched glass-ceramics compared to the as-quenched BBO glass. Contact angle of the as-quenched glass was 90.2°, which decreases up to 20.02° with an increase in concentration of HF in the etching solution. Enhanced photocatalytic activity and increase in the hydrophilic nature suggests the efficient treatment of water pollutants by using the prepared surface crystallized glass–ceramics.