Orbital Apex Metastasis from Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma: Acute Loss of Vision and Subsequent Recovery with the Radiation

Orbital apex metastasis from adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is rare. We present a patient with known metastatic ACC presented with a rapidly declining vision with visual acuity oculus dexter (OD) equal to counting fingers at two feet. On imaging, she was found to have a right orbital apex tumor causing compressive optic neuropathy. She received the intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). After completion of the therapy, she had regained essentially a full vision with visual acuity OD of 20/30 without corrective lenses. The treatment rationale and pertinent literature are discussed in this article

Evolving clinical profile of IL-1β, IL-10 and CTLA-4 gene in rheumatoid factor positive Caucasian population

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a systemic autoimmune condition, causes joint damage and sometimes extra-articular lesions (cutaneous vasculitis, neuropathy, Felty’s syndrome, pericarditis, intersticial lung disease) that may be life threatening. The reason why extra-articular features will develop in rare RA patients is unknown. Our study was aimed to find any disease correlation with respect to a few genetic loci implicated in rheumatoid arthritis. In our study no significant association was observed for Il-1β and IL-10. However CTLA-4 showed polymorphism in RA and controls. In our earlier article we reported polymorphism of HLA-DRB1 in Caucasian population. The study was conducted on 60 patients, where 30 were control and 30 were diseased. All the patients selected for the study were Rf (rheumatoid factor) positive. Therefore the studies need to be conducted on larger group of patients, so that the association can be verified in Caucasian population (Indian scenario)

Effect of thermal annealing on optical properties of CR-39 polymeric track detector

The samples of CR-39 polymer (TASTRAK, Bristol, England) were annealled thermally at various temperatures ranging from 100oC to 180oC for 1 hour, in air. FTIR spectroscopy reveals the structural degradation of CR-39 polymer due to thermal annealing above its glass transition temperature. Optical band gap of pristine and thermally annealed samples has been determined using UV-Visible absorption spectra. It has been observed that the optical band gap decreases continuously as a result of annealing.Department of Physics, Kurukshetra University,Kurukshetra-136 119, Haryana, Indi

POTENTIAL USE OF GRAFT COPOLYMERS OF MERCERIZED FLAX AS FILLER IN POLYSTYRENE COMPOSITE MATERIALS

Graft copolymerization of binary vinyl monomers onto mercerized flax fiber was carried out for the enhancement of mechanical properties of polystyrene composites. Binary vinyl monomer mixture of AA+AN has been found to show maximum grafting (33.55%) onto mercerized flax. Graft copolymers thus synthesized were characterized with FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM, and TGA techniques. Mercerized flax (MF) showed maximum thermal stability in comparison to graft copolymers. It has been found that polystyrene composites reinforced with graft copolymers showed improvement in mechanical properties such as wear resistance, compressive strength, and tensile strength