Hernia is a common word that most surgeons are familiar with. A retrospective study was planned to analyse the spectrum of abdominal wall hernias in a rural population in India. Majority of the patients were of 40-70 yrs. Male to female ratio was 7:1. Incidence of groin hernias showed an increasing trend with advancing age. Out of total 320 cases, inguinal hernias were predominating in 77.81% cases. Ventral hernias were present in about 18% cases. However, femoral hernias were rare. We concluded that spectrum of abdominal wall hernias is almost the same all over the globe despite having differences in their socioeconomic and educational status.

Graphite nanoplatelets (GNPs) as an oil nano additive has gained importance to enhance the lubrication properties of renewable lubricants, such as vegetable oils. Using appropriately processed GNPs is necessary to gain the required tribological advantage. The present study investigated ball-milled GNPs, to understand the effect of GNPs concentration, and applied load on tribological behavior. Pin-on-disk tests were employed, to investigate the tribological performance of the nano-additive oil-based lubricant in the boundary lubrication regime. In order gain an understanding of the lubrication mechanism, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), and Raman Spectroscopy were performed for characterization. The study found that there is a critical concentration of GNPs, below and above which a reduced wear rate is not sustained. It is found that the tribological enhancements at the optimum concentration of GNP in boundary lubrication condition are a result of reduced direct metal–metal contact area at the interface. This phenomenon, along with the reduced shear strength of the ball-milled GNPs, is indicated to reduce the formation of asperity junctions at the interface and enhance tribological properties of the nano-additive oil-based lubricant.

Friction stir processing (FSP) was applied to graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) physically compacted on the surface of squeeze cast A356 alloy to incorporate GNPs within the matrix and to improve its mechanical properties. Squeeze casting resulted in finer size silicon and intermetallic compounds in cast microstructure, and subsequently FSP further refined the microstructure of squeeze cast A356 alloy, and GNP reinforced A356 alloy. The finer Si particles, intermetallics and graphene dispersed in the matrix increased the yield and ultimate tensile strength of FSP squeeze cast A356 alloy compared to the results reported in prior literature for FSP A356 alloy. Eutectic Si needles have been converted to fine spherical particles during FSP and were uniformly distributed within the nugget zone. The crystallite size of GNPs which were physically adhered to the surface of squeeze cast alloy prior to FSP decreased after FSP as a result of deformation. Thus, a combination of squeeze casting, and friction stir processing and incorporation of GNPs reinforcement in the A356 matrix is a promising route to further improve its mechanical properties.

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Waardenburg syndrome (WS) is a rare disease characterised by sensorineural deafness in association with oculocutaneous pigmentary anomalies and dystopia canthorum. In this article, we report a 6-year-old boy with WS2, one of four cl inical types of WS, for its rarity and relative paucity of reports in the otological literature. We also review the relevant literature of this rare disorder.

Despite over forty years of active research, the nature of the white dwarf progenitors of Type Ia supernovae remains unclear. However, in the last decade, various progenitor scenarios have highlighted the need for detonations to be the primary mechanism by which these white dwarfs are consumed, but it is unclear how these detonations are triggered. In this paper we study how detonations are spontaneously initiated due to temperature inhomogeneities, e.g., hotspots, in burning nuclear fuel in a simplified physical scenario. Following the earlier work by Zel'Dovich, we describe the physics of detonation initiation in terms of the comparison between the spontaneous wave speed and the Chapman-Jouguet speed. We develop an analytic expression for the spontaneous wave speed and utilize it to determine a semi-analytic criterion for the minimum size of a hotspot with a linear temperature gradient between a peak and base temperature for which detonations in burning carbonoxygen material can occur. Our results suggest that spontaneous detonations may easily form under a diverse range of conditions, likely allowing a number of progenitor scenarios to initiate detonations that burn up the star.