Investigation of Dual-Ion Beam Sputter-Instigated Plasmon Generation in TCOs: A Case Study of GZO.

The use of the high free-electron concentration in heavily doped semiconductor enables the realization of plasmons. We report a novel approach to generate plasmons in Ga:ZnO (GZO) thin films in the wide spectral range of ∼1.87-10.04 eV. In the grown GZO thin films, dual-ion beam sputtering (DIBS) instigated plasmon is observed because of the formation of different metallic nanoclusters are reported. Moreover, formation of the nanoclusters and generation of plasmons are verified by field emission scanning electron microscope, electron energy loss spectra obtained by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, and spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis. Moreover, the calculation of valence bulk, valence surface, and particle plasmon resonance energies are performed, and indexing of each plasmon peaks with corresponding plasmon energy peak of the different nanoclusters is carried out. Further, the use of DIBS-instigated plasmon-enhanced GZO can be a novel mean to improve the performance of photovoltaic, photodetector, and sensing devices.

Therapeutic role of Vitamin B12 in patients of chronic tinnitus: A pilot study.

True tinnitus is a phantom auditory perception arising from a source or trigger in the cochlea, brainstem, or at higher centers and has no detectable acoustic generator. The most accepted is the famous neurophysiologic model of Jastreboff, which stresses that tinnitus, is a subcortical perception and results from the processing of weak neural activity in the periphery. The aim of this study is to determine the role of Vitamin B12 in treatment of chronic tinnitus. In this randomized, double-blind pilot study, total 40 patients were enrolled, of which 20 in Group A (cases) received intramuscular therapy of 1 ml Vitamin B12 (2500 mcg) weekly for a period of 6 weeks and Group B (20) patients received placebo isotonic saline 01 ml intramuscular. The patients were subjected to Vitamin B12 assay and audiometry pre- and post-therapy. Of the total patients of tinnitus, 17 were Vitamin B12 deficient that is 42.5% showed deficiency when the normal levels were considered to be 250 pg/ml. A paired t-test showed that in Group A, patients with Vitamin B12 deficiency showed significant improvement in mean tinnitus severity index score and visual analog scale (VAS) after Vitamin B12 therapy. This pilot study highlights the significant prevalence of Vitamin B12 deficiency in North Indian population and improvement in tinnitus severity scores and VAS in cobalamin-deficient patients receiving intramuscular Vitamin B12 weekly for 6 weeks further provides a link between cobalamin deficiency and tinnitus thereby suggestive of a therapeutic role of B12 in cobalamin-deficient patients of tinnitus.

Hypolipidemic Activity of Cassia tora Seeds in Hyperlipidemic Rats.

The hypolipidemic activity of Cassia tora (Chakvat, Chakunda) (Family: Caesalpiniaceae) seeds extract have been studied in two models of hyperlipidemia in rats. In an acute model, hyperlipidemia was induced by injecting a single dose of Triton WR-1339 (400 mg/kg, b.w.) intraperitonially in rats. Feeding with C. tora seed extract at the dose of 500 mg/kg, b.w. exerted significant lipid lowering effect as assessed by the reversal of plasma levels of total cholesterol, phospholipids, triglyceride and reactivation of post heparin lipolytic activity. In the chronic model, hyperlipidemia was induced by feeding with cholesterol rich-HFD in rats. The treatment with seeds extract of C. tora (500 mg/kg, b.w.) simultaneously for 15 days also caused lowering of lipid levels in plasma and liver following reactivation of plasma post heparin lipolytic activity and hepatic lipoprotein lipase activity in animals. The hypolipidemic activity of C. tora seeds was compared with a standard drug guggulipid (200 mg/kg, b.w.) in both models.

Blue electroluminescence from Sb-ZnO/Cd-ZnO/Ga-ZnO heterojunction diode fabricated by dual ion beam sputtering.

p-type Sb-doped ZnO/i-CdZnO/n-type Ga-doped ZnO was grown by dual ion beam sputtering deposition system. Current-voltage characteristics of the heterojunction showed a diode-like rectifying behavior with a turn-on voltage of ~5 V. The diode yielded blue electroluminescence emissions at around 446 nm in forward biased condition at room temperature. The emission intensity increased with the increase of the injection current. A red shifting of the emission peak position was observed with the increment of ambient temperature, indicating a change of band gap of the CdZnO active layer with temperature in low-temperature measurement.