Antihyperglycemic effect of methanol extract of Tamarix aphylla L. Karst (Saltcedar) in streptozocin–nicotinamide induced diabetic rats

Objective: To evaluate the antihyperglycemic potential of Tamarix aphylla(T. aphylla)leaves in STZ–NIC induced diabetes in Wister Albino rats.Methods: Acute toxicity study was done to check the toxicity of T. aphylla(L. Karst)methanol extract. T. aphylla leaves extract was administered intraperitoneally(100 mg,250 mg and 400 mg/kg body weight per day) to diabetic Wister rats for 21 days. The various parameters were studied including fasting blood glucose levels, haemoglobin and glycosylated haemoglobin.Results: The treatment groups with the extract at three dose levels expressively abridged the intensities of blood glucose and Glycosylated Haemoglobin. The earlier detected reduced level of plasma haemoglobin of the diabetic rats was raised to near normalcy with treatment of extract.Conclusions: The results of the current study confirm that the leaves extract of T. aphylla are nontoxic and have antidiabetic nature.

Role of nickel on vanadium poisoned FCC catalyst: A study of physiochemical properties

Active sites of Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst are poisoned during operation in the FCC reactor due to causes including feedstock contaminant metals deposition. This leads to activity, selectivity and increasing coking problems, thereby raising concern to the refiner. This work investigated effect of nickel coexisting with vanadium in the FCC feedstock on the standard FCC catalyst during cracking process, in which destruction of active sites occurs as a result of the metals deposition. Laboratory simulated equilibrium catalysts (E-cats) were studied by XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, N-2 adsorption, solid state MAS-NMR, SEM and H-2-TPR. Results revealed that vanadium, above a certain concentration in the catalyst, under hydrothermal conditions, is highly detrimental to the catalyst's structure and activity. Conversely, nickel hardly affects the catalyst structure, but its co-presence in the catalyst reduces destructive effects of vanadium. The mechanism of nickel inhibition of vanadium poisoning of the catalyst is discussed. (C) 2016 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Eta VOI among international travelers using COVIDSeq-NGS

Rationale:SARS-CoV-2 has been identified as a highly infective and contagious viral infection.The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has been spread worldwide and affected more than 210 countries.Globally,the fast spread of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants has been mostly attributed to international travel.Patient concerns:We are reporting the genomic evidence of SARSCoV-2 Eta VOI among two international travelers.Both travelers were males from Nigeria aged 24 and 34 years and both were asymptomatic.Diagnosis:The nasopharyngeal swab samples were in both travelers positive by real-time RT-PCR followed by COVIDSeq-NGS.Interventions:Paracetamol 3 times daily for 5 days.Outcomes:Patient recovered completely within 10 days and discharged after 14 days of quarantine duration.Lessons:This report highlights genomic variation of SARSCoV-2 among the travelers.For managing the present health crisis,molecular identification of viral variants present in different geographical locations will be very helpful.

First COVID-19 related death in Pakistan in a patient with a travel history in Saudi Arabia

Rationale: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2(SARS-CoV-2) has been recognized as highly pathogenic. The current pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 has been spread globally and infected more than 200 countries. Patient concerns: We report the first confirmed fatal case of COVID-19 in Pakistan. A 50-year-old man returned from Saudi Arabia on March 09, 2020 and presented with cough, fever, malaise, poor appetite and difficulty in breathing to the Pulmonologist at District Headquarter Hospital Mardan. Diagnosis: The patient was initially diagnosed as COVID-19 suspected case. A oropharyngeal swab sample was positive by realtime RT-PCR tests. Lessons: This report highlights the importance of close coordination between clinicians and public health authorities as well as the importance of early laboratory-based confirmation of COVID-19 cases.

Remarkably high performance of clew-like ZnO superstructure in reactive adsorption desulfurization

In this study,a clew-like ZnO superstructure was synthesized by a copolymer-controlled self-assembly homogeneous precipitation method. Ni was impregnated to the clew-like ZnO superstructure to obtain Ni/ZnO adsorbents.The synthesized materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy,transmission electron microscopy,N_2 sorption,X-ray diffraction,Fourier transform infrared spectrometry,and H2-temperature programmed reduction techniques. The reactive adsorption desulfurization（RADS）performance of the adsorbents was evaluated in a fixed bed reactor using thiophene in n-octane as a model fuel. Sample Ni/ZnO-4h exhibits a remarkably high performance with a sulfur capacity of 189.1 mg S g^（-1）,which is above 6 times that of the one prepared with commercial ZnO. Characterization results show that the morphology changes from micro-clews to large solid sticks with the increase of the crystallization time.The loose and open architecture of the clew-like ZnO superstructure facilitates the diffusion of reactants/products,and prevents the adsorbent particles from breakage by supplying space for the volume expansion during the RADS process. The small nanoparticles in ZnO nanostrips result in a high sulfur adsorption capacity and also favor the dispersion of Ni,leading to an excellent RADS performance.

Effect of eccentricity in reinforced concrete beam-column-slab connection under cyclic loading

Beam-column connections are one of the most critical elements of reinforced concrete structures,especially in seismically active regions,and have been extensively evaluated experimentally and numerically.However,very limited experimental studies about eccentric reinforced concrete connections including the effect of connected slabs are available.This study presents the experimental results of two half-scale eccentric beam-column-slab connections subjected to quasi-static cyclic loading.The horizontal eccentricity(eh)is maintained at 12.5%and 25%of column width(bc)for specimens 1 and 2,respectively.The damage pattern,performance levels,displacement ductility(μD),energy dissipation,and connection strength and stiffness are compared for both specimens,and the effect of eccentricity is evaluated.It is concluded that the eccentricity has no significant effect on the lateral load carrying capacity;however,the overall strength degradation increases with the increase in eccentricity.Similarly,the elastic stiffness of specimen 2 decreased by 14%as the eccentricity increased from 12.5%to 25%;however,the eccentricity had no significant effect on the overall stiffness degradation.μD decreased by 43%,and the energy dissipation capacity decreased by 40%in specimen 2 with higher eccentricity.The story drifts corresponding to the performance levels of the life safety(LS)and collapse prevention(CP)were found to be 28%lesser in specimen 2 than in specimen 1.