Lessons From India in Organizational Innovation: A Tale of Two Heart Hospitals

Recent discussions in health reform circles have pinned great hopes on the prospect of innovation as the solution to the high-cost, inadequate-quality U.S. health system. But U.S. health care institutions--insurers, providers and specialists--have ceded leadership in innovation to Indian hospitals such as Care Hospital in Hyderabad and the Fortis Hospitals around New Delhi, which have U.S.-trained doctors and can perform open heart surgery for $6000 (compared to$100,000 in the United States). The Indian success is a window into America\u27s stalemate with inflating costs and stagnant innovation

Hydrogenation of olefins by polymer-bound palladium(II) Schiff base catalyst

Chloromethylated poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) was modified into coordinating Schiff base bearing ligand which was subsequently complexed with palladium chloride and activated by using sodium borohydride. The polymer-supported palladium complex and activated catalyst were characterized by various techniques such as elemental analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic absorption spectroscopy, IR, far IR spectral studies, SEM and thermogravimetric analysis. Surface area measurements by BET method and swelling studies with different solvents for the catalyst were also carried out. Catalytic activity towards hydrogenation of 1-hexene, 1-heptene, 1-octene, cyclohexene, norbornadiene (nbd) and 1,5-cyclooctadiene (1,5-cod) was assessed. The influence of variation in temperature, pressure, concentration of the catalyst as well as the substrate and the nature of the solvent on the rate of the reaction was studied for a few olefins. Recycling ability of the catalyst was also evaluated. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Indigenous Knowledge on Medicinal Plants Among the Local People of Puducherry Region (Union Territory), India

A survey on the use of medicinal plants by local traditional healers was carried out in Puducherry (Union Territory) region, southern India. Findings presented in this paper were gathered by group discussions, interviews and questionnaires with the local people having knowledge of medicinal values of plants; this study involved a total of 24 plant species distributed in 22 families. These medicinal plants employed by them are listed with Latin name, family, local name, parts used, mode of preparation of the drug and medicinal uses. Generally, fresh parts of the plants are used for the preparation of medicine and leaves are most commonly used. The results of this study showed that local people still depend on plants for the cure of certain diseases

Report on swimbladder disorder in the honeycomb grouper, Epinephelus merra

Swimbladder or airbladder is a thin layered epithelial sac filled with air, lying above the alimentary canal of bony fishes that regulates buoyancy of the fish so that the specific gravity of the fish always matches the depth at which it is swimming. Swimbladder disorder (SBD) is a condition caused by sudden temperature changes impacted stomach resulting from improper feeding or due to bacterial or viral infections of the bladder characterised by inability of the fish to keep a normal upright position in water. Normally gold fishes suffer from SBD due to their globoid body shape. Fish with SBD may float on their side or their back, swim in circles or take head-down posture

Tomorrow's Surgery: Micromotors and Microrobots

Surgical procedures have changed radically over the last few years due to the arrival of new technology. What will technology bring us in the future? This paper examines a few of the forces whose timing are causing new ideas to congeal from the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, micromachining and smart materials. Intelligence systems for autonomous mobile robots can now enable simple insect level behaviors in small amounts of silicon. These software breakthroughs coupled with new techniques for microfabricating miniature sensors and actuators from both silicon and ferroelectric families of materials offer glimpses of the future where robots will be small, cheap and potentially useful to surgeons. In this paper we relate our recent efforts to fabricate piezoelectric micromotors in an effort to develop actuator technologies where brawn matches to the scale of the brain. We discuss our experiments with thin film ferroelectric motors 2mm in diameter and larger 8mm versions machined from bulk ceramic and sketch possible applications in the surgical field.MIT Artificial Intelligence Laborator

Unusual foaming along Thiruvananthapuram coast

Unusual foaming was observed on 18 and 19 October 2009 along the coast of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. A similar phenomenon was reported in 1999, which suggested that foaming in coastal waters of the Northern Adriatic, the English Channel and beaches of France, the Netherlands and Germany was due to the mucilage formed from the extracellular polymeric substances

Review on Type-2 fuzzy in biomedicine

Application of physiological and biological ethics to clinical practice is called medical science or Bio-medicine. This branch includes biochemistry, molecular biology, biological engineering neuro science, immunology, pathology and other life science applied to medicine. In this paper, a review has been done for creating a new path and motivation in this field for the new researchers as an application of fuzzy logic in life science areas. Since medical field has uncertainty in nature this topic will be very useful for the future researc

Aldo-keto reductase-1 (AKR1) protect cellular enzymes from salt stress by detoxifying reactive cytotoxic compounds

Cytotoxic compounds like reactive carbonyl compounds such as methylglyoxal (MG), melandialdehyde (MDA), besides the ROS accumulate significantly at higher levels under salinity stress conditions and affect lipids and proteins that inhibit plant growth and productivity. The detoxification of these cytotoxic compounds by overexpression of NADPH-dependent Aldo-ketoreductase (AKR1) enzyme enhances the salinity stress tolerance in tobacco. The PsAKR1 overexpression plants showed higher survival and chlorophyll content and reduced MDA, H2O2, and MG levels under NaCl stress. The transgenic plants showed reduced levels of Na+ levels in both root and shoot due to reduced reactive carbonyl compounds (RCCs) and showed enhanced membrane stability resulted in higher root growth and biomass. The increased levels of antioxidant glutathione and enhanced activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR) suggest AKR1 could protect these enzymes from the RCC induced protein carbonylation by detoxification process. The transgenics also showed higher activity of delta 1-pyrroline-5- carboxylate synthase (P5CS) enzyme resulted in increasedproline levels to maintain osmotic homeostasis. The results demonstrates that the AKR1 protects proteins or enzymes that are involved in scavenging of cytotoxic compounds by detoxifying RCCs generated under salinity stress. © 2017 Elsevier Masson SA

Synthesis, characterisation of polymer-​supported palladium-​2-​methylimidazole complex catalyst for the hydrogenation of aromatic nitro compounds

A polymer-​supported palladium-​2-​methylimidazole complex was synthesized and characterized by various physicochem. methods. The complex was successfully used as a catalyst for the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene and its derivs. under ambient conditions. Results reveal that the electronic as well as the steric effects of the substituent control the rate of hydrogenation of the nitro group in the studied nitro compds. The kinetics of hydrogenation and the reusability of the catalyst were also studied

Design parameter based method of partial discharge detection and location in power transformers

Insulation defect detection in time ensures higher operational reliability of power system assets. Power transformers are the most critical unit of power systems both from economical and operational front. Hence it becomes necessary to have knowledge of the actual insulation condition of transformer to increase dependability of the system. The performance and ageing of the transformer insulation is mainly affected by Partial discharges (PD). Proper diagnosis in terms of amplitude and location of partial discharge in a power transformer enables us to predict well in advance, with much confidence, the defect in insulation system, which avoids large catastrophic failures. In this work a 20kVA, 230/50kV single phase core type transformer is used for evaluation of the transfer function-based partial discharge detection and location using modeling of the winding, using design data. The simulation of capturing on-line PD pulses across the bushing tap capacitor is done for various tap positions. Standard PD source model is used to inject PD pulse signal at 10 tap locations in the winding and corresponding response signatures are captured at the bushing tap end (across 1000pF). The equivalent high frequency model of the winding is derived from the design parameters using analytical calculations and simulations in packages such as MAGNET and ANSOFT. The test conditions are simulated using ORCAD-9 and the results are evaluated for location accuracy using design parameter based PD monitoring method.