First results from the XMCD facility at the Energy-Dispersive EXAFS beamline of the Indus-2 synchrotron source.

Setting up of the X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD) measurement facility with hard X-rays at the Energy-Dispersive EXAFS beamline (BL-08) at the Indus-2 synchrotron source is reported. This includes the design and development of a water-cooled electromagnet having a highest magnetic field of 2 T in a good field volume of 125 mm3 and having a 10 mm hole throughout for passage of the synchrotron beam. This also includes the development of an (X-Z-θ) motion stage for the heavy electromagnet for aligning its axis and the beam hole along the synchrotron beam direction. Along with the above developments, also reported is the first XMCD signal measured on a thick Gd film in the above set-up which shows good agreement with the reported results. This is the first facility to carry out XMCD measurement with hard X-rays in India.

Unraveling doping induced anatase-rutile phase transition in TiO2 using electron, X-ray and gamma-ray as spectroscopic probes.

The present work reports the microscopic details of anatase (A) to rutile (R) phase transformation in a Mn-doped TiO2 system. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) powder was synthesized at three different dopant percentages, namely 1, 5, and 10 atom% of Mn, by a coprecipitation technique. Time differential perturbed angular correlation (TDPAC) spectroscopy was used to identify the formation of the rutile-like phase (R*) during the phase-transition process and revealed interface nucleation to be promoted by the Mn dopant. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, synchrotron-based X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) studies showed that Mn exhibited a mixed valence states of 2+ and 4+ at different stages of the annealing process. The rutile onset temperature gradually decreased with the increase in the Mn content. The present report proposes the mechanism for the phase transformation and details the effect of Mn on the A to R phase-transformation process. This can assist in gaining a fundamental understanding of the A to R phase-transformation process and the role of the dopant in stabilizing one phase over the other.

Effect of ionic size compensation by Ag+ incorporation in homogeneous Fe-substituted ZnO: studies on structural, mechanical, optical, and magnetic properties.

Substituting an ion of different size from that of the host element introduces lattice strain and defects. However, this mismatch may be significantly reduced by substituting an additional ion with a compensating size relative to the dopant. Such a double substitution might offer better solubility irrespective of the local distortions as well as the formation of defects in the valence states. Fe-substituted ZnO has been widely reported with conflicting results primarily arising from lack of chemical and structural homogeneity originating from preparation techniques, compositional fluctuations, and equivocal comprehension of actual solubility limits of the dopants. In this study, Ag ion has been incorporated in Fe-substituted ZnO to compensate the ionic size of Zn1-x [Fe0.8Ag0.2] x O (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.03125) by determining the solubility limit of the homogeneous material and their corresponding structural, mechanical, optical and magnetic properties have been investigated thoroughly. Co-substitution rearranges the lattice and leads to better crystal structures with tunable properties related to the amount of substitution.

Correction: Effect of ionic size compensation by Ag+ incorporation in homogeneous Fe-substituted ZnO: studies on structural, mechanical, optical, and magnetic properties.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/C8RA02393J.].

Hospital-acquired pneumonia due to Leclercia adecarboxylata in a neurosurgical centre.

Leclercia adecarboxylata, a gram-negative bacillus of the Enterobacteriaceae family, is an uncommonly identified human pathogen. The organism has been reported worldwide and isolated from various environmental sources. Most human infections are polymicrobial and commonly occur in immunocompromised hosts, although nosocomial infections in immunocompetent hosts have been documented. We describe three case reports of L. adecarboxylata isolation from cases of hospital acquired pneumonia admitted to a tertiary care center for neurosurgical care.

Calibration issues for nanoindentation experiments: direct atomic force microscopy measurements and indirect methods.

This article discusses calibration issues for shallow depth nanoindentation experiments with Berkovich tips with respect to the accurate measurement of the diamond area function (DAF). For this purpose, two different calibration procedures are compared: (i) the direct measurement of the DAF through atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging of the Berkovich tip at shallow depth and (ii) a novel indirect calibration method based on an iterative robust and converging scheme in which both reduced modulus and indentation hardness are simultaneously used. These results are obtained by indentation measurements on a standard specimen of fused silica, performed in the 0.5-200 mN load range with a Berkovich indenter. Direct tip shape measurements were carried out through different AFM methods. Comparisons with the standard indirect calibration procedure are also reported. For both the indirect calibration procedures a sensitivity and convergence study is presented.

Comparative study of efficacy and toxicities of cisplatin vs vinorelbine as radiosensitisers in locally advanced head and neck cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Currently, concomitant chemoradiation using cisplatin is one of the standards of care for the management of head and neck cancer, but at the cost of increased acute toxicity. Our aim was to assess whether vinorelbine was less toxic and of at least comparable efficacy, if not better, compared with cisplatin. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 72 patients with squamous cell carcinoma in the head and neck region were recruited, 40 in arm A and 32 in arm B. Patients in arm A received 40 mg/m2 cisplatin weekly. Patients in arm B received 6 mg/m2 vinorelbine weekly. Both arms also received 66 Gy of radiation in conventional fractionation. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS: There was no statistically significant difference in response rate or toxicities between the two arms, except for nausea and/or vomiting, which was significantly less frequent in the vinorelbine arm. CONCLUSION: Vinorelbine was as effective as cisplatin in controlling locoregional disease in locally advanced head and neck cancer, but was only marginally less toxic than cisplatin.

Use of RAPD and AFLP markers to identify inter- and intraspecific hybrids of Mentha.

Three controlled crosses were carried out involving Mentha arvensis and Mentha spicata [M. spicata CIMAP/C30 x M. spicata CIMAP/C33 (cv. Neera); M. arvensis CIMAP/C18 x CIMAP/C17 (cv. Kalka); and M. arvensis CIMAP/C17 x M. spicata CIMAP/C33]. The parents were subjected to random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis with 80 primers, and polymorphic primers were tested for detecting coinherited RAPD profiles among the progeny of these crosses. Of 50 seedlings tested from each intraspecific cross, all demonstrated dominant profiles with the selected RAPD primers except the detected hybrid from respective crosses. Coinherited markers could be detected with the primers OPJ 01, MAP 06, OPT 08, and OPO 20 for M. arvensis; OPJ 05, OPJ 14, OPO 19, and OPT 09 for M. spicata; and OPJ 07, OPJ 10, OPJ 11, OPJ 14, and OPO 02 for the cross M. arvensis x M. spicata. In our amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis, 40 coinherited marker fragments were identified for the cross involving M. arvensis, 32 for the cross involving M. spicata, and 41 for the interspecific cross between M. arvensis and M. spicata. In all crosses, similarity values between the parents were less than those between the parents and the hybrids. Although RAPD markers are generally considered dominant, it is possible to identify a few codominant markers that behave like restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers. This molecular marker system may be helpful in rapidly screening out hybrids in crops where cross-pollination is a problem.

Evaluation of results of radiotherapy alone vs combined surgery and postoperative radiotherapy in carcinoma external auditory canal-10 years review.

Forty-one patients of external auditory canal (EAC) cancer attended the Department of Radiotherapy (RT), Medical College Hospital, Kolkata during the period from 1987 to 1996. Majority were above 50 years of age with slight female preponderance. Out of 41 patients 36 patients completed the full course of treatment of which 12 patients underwent combined modality treatment (RT 50-55 Gy plus surgery) and 24 patients received primary RT alone (55-60 Gy). Radiation therapy was given in standard fractionation schedule. Retrospective analysis revealed complete response in 8/12 (66.7%) in combined modality treatment group and in 3/24 (12.5%) in RT alone group. The actuarial 2 year survival was 19%. following RT alone, 85% following combined modality, 70% in early lesions and 18% in advanced lesions. The study suggests, surgical resection followed by postoperative irradiation is an effective method and better treatment option than RT alone as primary treatment modality for carcinoma of EAC.

Quantitative studies on the mating system of opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.).

Nearly 400 individuals at two locations and over a number of years were crossed and subsequently scored for selfing versus outcrossing in eight monohybrid populations of opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Two different marker loci, petal colour (R/r) and capsule size (B/b) were used to determine the male gametes that had effected fertilizations in F2 recessives (rr and bb). The estimates of the outcrossing parameter α were found to vary with year, location and for the marker locus used (α range: 0.0988-0.3704). Study of two dihybrid crosses involving the two loci simultaneously, further confirmed that outcrossing at the R/r locus was significantly greater than that at the B/b locus. The nature of the outcrossing was, in general, nonrandom. Selfmg predominated in this species; however, there was a high frequency of natural outcrossing for generating variations in P. somniferum.