Nucleation processes

Whether it is clouds or champagne bubbles forming, or the early onset of Alzheimer's disease or Type 2 diabetes, a common mechanism is at work: nucleation processes.

Nucleation processes are a first step in the structural rearrangement involved in the phase transition of matter: a liquid morphing into a gas, a gas becoming a liquid and so on. Clouds, boiling water, bubbles, and some disease stages are all characterized by the formation of a new thermodynamic phase which requires some of the smallest units of the new structure to form before this new phase can grow. Understanding this process is critical for preventing, halting or treating cases of nucleation processes gone wrong such as in human disease. Now, a team of researchers from University College London and the University of Cambridge in Great Britain in collaboration with Harvard University have made headway toward understanding this problem from a molecular point of view in a new study. Their finding is significant across an array of phenomena, from human disease to nanotechnology.

“Perhaps an intuitive example of nucleation would be the way in which a quiet dinner party suddenly transforms into a dancing one; such a transition usually requires several people to start dancing at once, acting as a 'nucleus' around which the dancing party assembles,” explained Anđela Šarić, lead coauthor at the University College London and the University of Cambridge. The results of this study will appear this week in The Journal of Chemical Physics, from AIP Publishing.

“As commonly observed, if this group of dancers is too small, it tends to be ignored; however, above a certain size, this dancing nucleus attracts more and more people, eventually dominating the room," adds Thomas Michaels, the other lead coauthor. This minimum number of dancing people required to transform the party is what in thermodynamic terms is commonly known as the "critical nucleus."

In their research, the team considers a particularly intriguing example of a nucleated process: the formation of protein filaments. Many filamentous structures of proteins such as actin and tubulin are key for the growth, structural formation, movement and division of cells. They are an essential characteristic of living systems. However, protein filaments can also be disease-causing: Over 50 common disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Type 2 diabetes, are associated with the formation and deposition in the brain or other organs of protein filaments commonly known as amyloids.

Using a combination of theory and computer simulations the authors explored the nucleation of protein filaments. Their goal was to establish the fundamental physical principles behind it. Their results showed that a seemingly complicated process of fibril nucleation is actually governed by a relatively simple physical mechanism: Unorganized clusters of proteins so-called oligomers are formed initially.

These structures do not resemble protein filaments yet, but have to undergo a structural conversion before they can grow into mature filaments, Šarić explained. They found that among many different steps in fibril nucleation, the shape change inside oligomers is the rate-determining step. Therefore, conformational changes in the protein inside oligomers (leading to the formation of β-sheet configurations) are crucial to understand fibril nucleation. Previously, the size of critical nucleus was considered the rate-determining factor.

The study represents an important step forward in the mechanistic understanding of the way in which protein filaments form. Such an understanding is key for studying the early stages in the onset of diseases associated with protein aggregation, as oligomers are increasingly believed to be the prime cause for cellular toxicity.

“Understanding which microscopic-level steps are determining for the formation of protein fibrils can provide invaluable information for designing rational therapies aimed at suppressing pathogenic oligomer generation," Šarić explained

Moreover, due to their unique physicochemical properties, protein filaments are finding extensive applications in materials science as biomaterials for nanotechnology," Michaels said. "Better control of filamentous growth would benefit the production of novel functional materials that have extensive applications in materials science as biomaterials for nanotechnology."

Materials provided by American Institute of Physics(AIP).

Nalanda University's 'autonomy hit', chancellor George Yeo quits

 Nalanda University chancellor George Yeo resigned on Friday, saying that the varsity's autonomy was being affected as he was "not even given notice" of the change in the governing board that was announced on Monday.

"The circumstances under which the leadership change in Nalanda University has been suddenly and summarily effected is disturbing and possibly harmful to the university's development," Yeo said in a statement to members of the earlier board of the university.

Yeo is a former foreign minister of Singapore and India might have to expend some diplomatic capital to smooth things with the city-state, one of India's closest international partners.

The board was reconstituted by President Pranab Mukherjee as its visitor on November 21, which ended Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's long association with the university he had helped set up.

"It is puzzling why I, as chancellor, was not even given notice of it. When I was invited to take over the responsibility from Amartya Sen last year, I was repeatedly assured that the university would have autonomy.

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's long association with Nalanda University, which he had helped set up, was ended when the board was reconstituted on November 21. "It is puzzling why I, as chancellor, was not even given notice of it. When I was invited to take over the responsibility from Amartya Sen last year, I was repeatedly assured that the university would have autonomy. This appears not to be the case now. Accordingly, and with deep sadness, I have submitted my letter of resignation as chancellor to the visitor," George Yeo said.

Yeo also clashed with the government on the reappointment of vice-chancellor Gopa Sabharwal. He had approved an extension to her tenure until a new V-C was found. The government overruled that. The new governing board, which was announced earlier this week , only has one member, N K Singh, from the previous Nalanda mentor group .

Yeo, along with other members of the governing board, wanted the Nalanda Act to be amended to broaden participation of other East Asian countries, apart from those which had contributed financially. "For reasons not entirely clear to me, the government of India has decided to form the new governing board with immediate effect before the act is amended," Yeo said.

The amended act, he said, would have removed a "major flaw" .

"This provision, which was never recommended by the Nalanda mentor group (NMG), would not have been a good way to constitute the governing board and was the reason the government of India requested the NMG to continue functioning as the governing board for a number of years until the act could be amended," he said.

New pharma policy

                              Government to work on new pharma policy

The government will soon come up with a new pharma policy to counter the excessive controls thwarting competitiveness and innovation in the sector.

The policy could feature significant and important features including the following:

• Disbanding of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) in its current form, delinking price control of essential medicines. Prices could be regulated only in case when required thereby leading to more flexibility.
• Licenses of periodic renewal would also be scrapped for manufacturing and sale of drugs and would be given till perpetuity.
• The Health Ministry would also work on a process of third party certification and self certification on an annual basis.

All the above measures would essentially lead to improved ease of doing business and help in realising the full potential of the pharma sector. It has been felt that excessive controls are discouraging investments in the sector. Also, India has lost its bulk and intermediate drugs market to China.

The Indian pharma sector has the potential of reaching US$ 55 bn from the level of US$ 20 bn in 2015. Improving the ease of doing business would lead to more investments in the sector.

Dengue vaccine in India

                  Sanofi awaits govt approval to launch dengue vaccine in India

After receiving authorization in 11 countries, Sanofi Pasteur is still awaiting for approval from the government to launch its dengue vaccine Dengvaxia in India.

"The need for dengue prevention in India is urgent, and the Indian population is at risk for this debilitating disease, for which there is no cure or treatment and deserves to have a choice to be protected against the disease with a well-tested vaccine proven effective against dengue," Sanofi Pasteur India Country Head Jean-Pierre Baylet told PTI here.

''As soon as the government approves the use of the Sanofi Pasteur dengue vaccine, it will take minimally 6-8 months to complete the remaining regulatory requirements and make the vaccine available to the Indian population," Baylet said.

However, in a scenario where the government asks us to conduct more clinical trials in India before granting license, the vaccine will not be available to the Indian population before 2020, he said.

On the current approval status, Baylet said that as per the minutes published on 6th October 2016, the Technical Committee of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has recommended that Sanofi Pasteur's dengue vaccine be approved to protect adults in the 18-45 years of age in India, on the strength of the published documentation from the clinical studies on the vaccine that included more than 40,000 participants worldwide, including India.

For the last decade, it is estimated that an average of 5.7 million cases of dengue have been occurring in India every year, with related annual costs of over USD 1 billion.

The company has submitted the vaccine regulatory file to the Indian authorities last year in October, based on its worldwide clinical programme, including India. Since the submission, the vaccine has been approved for use - in quick succession - in 11 endemic countries of which two countries, Brazil and the Philippines, have introduced the dengue vaccine in their public immunization programme.

In July 2016, based on the public clinical documentation, as well as on a set of mathematical modelled outcomes of the potential public health impact of the dengue vaccine's implementation in endemic settings, the WHO recommended the use of the vaccine in highly dengue-endemic countries.

The regulatory review process is ongoing in endemic countries. The vaccine's regulatory file has already been submitted in more than 20 countries, in Asia and Latin America, reflecting the global burden of dengue. Singapore is the 11th country to approve the vaccine and we expect more to follow, he said.

Bpharm sessional exam Timetable

                                       2nd sessionsl of Pharmaceutical Analysis BOP 475 QUESTIONS

1. What is 1H-NMR.Write short notes on shielding and desheilding effect.

2.Write down the Instrumentation of NMR spectroscopy.

3.Write notes on spin-spin coupling and coupling constant, spin-spin splitting.

4.Briefly discuss about 13C-NMR.



                         3rd sessionsl of Pharmaceutical Analysis BOP 475 

1.What is MASS spectroscopy.

2. Write down the Instrumentation of MASS spectroscopy.

3. Briefly discuss about different types of Ionisation techniques (CI, FAB, ESI, MALDI).

4. Write applications of MASS SPECTROSCOPY.

                                      MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY 3rd SESSIONAL

                                                                                                                  Full marks 20
                                                                                                                  Time 1 hr
1.Write down the synthesis and mode of action on following
  (a) Dicyclomine (b) Caffeine (c) Succinylcholine (d) Fluoxetine (e) Haloperidol

2.Write down the SAR of Antipsycotic drug and CNS stimulants.

            Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016: Making the world's

                                     Smallest machines

Date:  October 5, 2016

Source:  Nobel Foundation

Summary:  The 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is being awarded to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, and Bernard L. Feringa "for the design and synthesis of molecular machines."

                                

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016 to Jean-Pierre Sauvage of the University of Strasbourg, France; Sir J. Fraser Stoddart of Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA; and Bernard L. Feringa of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands "for the design and synthesis of molecular machines."

A tiny lift, artificial muscles and miniscule motors. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016 is awarded to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa for their design and production of molecular machines. They have developed molecules with controllable movements, which can perform a task when energy is added.

The development of computing demonstrates how the miniaturisation of technology can lead to a revolution. The 2016 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry have miniaturised machines and taken chemistry to a new dimension.

The first step towards a molecular machine was taken by Jean-Pierre Sauvage in 1983, when he succeeded in linking two ring-shaped molecules together to form a chain, called a catenane. Normally, molecules are joined by strong covalent bonds in which the atoms share electrons, but in the chain they were instead linked by a freer mechanical bond. For a machine to be able to perform a task it must consist of parts that can move relative to each other. The two interlocked rings fulfilled exactly this requirement.

The second step was taken by Fraser Stoddart in 1991, when he developed a rotaxane. He threaded a molecular ring onto a thin molecular axle and demonstrated that the ring was able to move along the axle. Among his developments based on rotaxanes are a molecular lift, a molecular muscle and a molecule-based computer chip.

Bernard Feringa was the first person to develop a molecular motor; in 1999 he got a molecular rotor blade to spin continually in the same direction. Using molecular motors, he has rotated a glass cylinder that is 10,000 times bigger than the motor and also designed a nanocar.

2016's Nobel Laureates in Chemistry have taken molecular systems out of equilibrium's stalemate and into energy-filled states in which their movements can be controlled. In terms of development, the molecular motor is at the same stage as the electric motor was in the 1830s, when scientists displayed various spinning cranks and wheels, unaware that they would lead to electric trains, washing machines, fans and food processors. Molecular machines will most likely be used in the development of things such as new materials, sensors and energy storage systems.

Jean-Pierre Sauvage, born 1944 in Paris, France. Ph.D. 1971 from the University of Strasbourg, France. Professor Emeritus at the University of Strasbourg and Director of Research Emeritus at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), France.

Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, born 1942 in Edinburgh, UK. Ph.D. 1966 from Edinburgh University, UK. Board of Trustees Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.

Bernard L. Feringa, born 1951 in Barger-Compascuum, the Netherlands. Ph.D.1978 from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Professor in Organic Chemistry at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands.

Milk Teeth

                                 Mystery Behind Losing Our Milk Teeth in Childhood

                                                                          By JULIA SAMUEL

Teeth are subject to a lot of wear and tear, so it makes sense to be able to replace them during the lifetime of the animal. Surprisingly, however, the teeth of the earliest jawed vertebrates were fixed to the jaw bones and could not be shed.

Tooth shedding eventually evolved independently on two occasions, using two quite different processes. In sharks and rays, the fibres that anchor the tooth to the skin of the jaw dissolve and the whole tooth simply falls out. 

In bony fish and land vertebrates, the developing tooth becomes attached directly to the jaw bone by a special tissue known as "bone of attachment", and when it is time for the tooth to be shed this attachment must be severed; specialized cells come in and resorb the dentine and bone of attachment until the tooth comes loose. That's why our milk teeth loose their roots before they are shed. But when did this process evolve? 

The authors of the new study decided to investigate a jaw bone of the 424 million year old fossil fish Andreolepis from Gotland in Sweden, close to the common ancestor of all living bony fish and land vertebrates. 

The jaw is a tiny thing, less than a centimetre in length, but it hides a wonderful secret: the internal microstructure of the bone is perfectly preserved and contains a record of its growth history. 

Until recently it has only been possible to see internal structures by physically cutting thin sections from the fossil and viewing them under the microscope, but this destroys the specimen and provides only a two-dimensional image that is hard to interpret. 

However, at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, it is now possible to make tomographic scans that capture the same level of microscopic detail, in three dimensions, without damaging the specimen. Donglei Chen, first author of the study, has spent several years painstakingly 'dissecting' the scan data on the computer screen, building up a three-dimensional map of the entire sequence of tooth addition and loss - the first time an early fossil dentition has been analyzed in such detail. 

"Every time a tooth was shed, the resorption process created a hollow where it had been attached. When the succeeding replacement tooth was cemented in place by bone of attachment, the old resorption surface remained as a faint buried scar within the bone tissue. I found up to four of these buried resorption surfaces under each tooth, stacked on top of each other like plates in a cupboard. This shows that the teeth were replaced again and again during the life of the fish," explains Donglei Chen. 

This is the earliest known example of tooth shedding by basal resorption, and it seems to be most similar to the process of tooth replacement seen today in primitive bony fish such as gar (Lepisosteus) and bichir (Polypterus). Like in these fish, new replacement teeth developed alongside the old ones, rather than underneath them like in us.

"The amount of biological information we get from the scans is simply astonishing. We can follow the process of growth and resorption right down to cellular level, almost like in a living animal. As we apply this technique to more early vertebrates, we will come to understand their life processes much better - and no doubt we will be in for some major surprises," says Per Ahlberg, one of the leaders of the project.

                                     Delay in Patents can Slow Down Development in Medicine

In India, the delay in the patents for various innovations can slow down the improvement in the field of medicine, said health experts.

   Although the government has started indulging in many schemes and provisions, patients are yet to reap benefits from them and hence many physicians themselves have indulged in creating innovative therapies or treatments that can be made available to patients at a very economical cost, experts said. 

      "Patents for innovations by the doctors should be speeded up in India. These out-of-the-box ideas by the physicians will ensure that the expenses of all the treatments do not put a load on the patient's pocket and some innovations help generate a positive relation between the patient and the hospital," said Ram Prabhoo, President of the Indian Orthopaedic Association.

Prashant Jha from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences said that he has created a Feto Maternal device that can assess fetal distress, and can be helpful for patients as well as doctors. 

"We have come up with a app named TNM that helps standardise the diagnosis for different types of cancer and its stages. This app has a 20-second Questionnaire which needs to be filled with just a yes or no and immediate diagnosis of the node of cancer and its stage is revealed," said Palak Popat, associated with city based Tata Memorial Hospital. 

According to Popat, the app will become helpful for junior doctors, radiologists and general practitioners who are not specialists in Oncology. 

"This app will help provide immediate information to the patients and their family," said Popat. 

 

                       SOURCE- medindia.net by Julia Samuel on  October 17, 2016 at 10:26 PM

IIT Bombay researchers a step closer to treating                                         Parkinson’s disease

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT B) have taken the first successful step at regenerating neurons in a Parkinson mouse model by using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) encapsulated in an amyloid hydrogel. The hydrogels which provide scaffolding for stem cells to develop into neurons when implanted in the brain are developed from a special class of proteins called amyloids. The results were published in the journal NPG Asia Materials.

      The hydrogel enabled the delivery and engraftment of mesenchymal stem cells in two regions of the mice brain - substantia nigra and striatum - where the cells were injected. “We do not have direct proof that mesenchymal stem cells have become neurons. But the stem cells transplanted at the substantia nigra site were differentiating into neuron-like cells,” says Subhadeep Das from IITB-Monash Research Academy, IIT Bombay and the first author of the paper.

“We wanted to first know if the cells were surviving and were contained at the site. So the time point was short, and we sacrificed the animals at the end of the seventh day after transplantation,” he says. “Further studies for prolonged periods will tell if the mesenchymal stem cells become matured neurons.”

In the case of Parkinson’s, neurons based in the substantia nigra region of the brain release dopamine at the striatum. Since the connection between the two regions is lost in the case of Parkinson’s, the researchers implanted the stem cells at both the sites.

But before transplanting the stem cells encapsulated in the hydrogel into the brain of the mice, the researchers tested the hydrogel in the lab for toxicity. Both neural precursor cell lines and mesenchymal stem cells were cultured in the amyloid hydrogel. And 2D and 3D culture tests for toxicity were carried out for both short (24 hours) and long (120 hours) term and the results compared with a collagen hydrogel, which served as control. “The compatibility of amyloid hydrogel was similar to collagen,” says Das.

Besides being a good scaffold that facilitates the differentiation of stem cells into neurons and not being toxic, the hydrogel should also not trigger the immune system from mounting a violent reaction against it when implanted into the brain. So the researchers injected the hydrogel into rat brain to test for any possible inflammatory response or immune rejection of the amyloid hydrogel. While two types of inflammatory cells - microglia and atrocytes - accumulated near the hydrogel, their levels subsided by 21 days.

In a next step, they implanted the hydrogel containing the mesenchymal stem cells in the brain of the Parkinson mouse model. “The hydrogel was able to improve the viability of the transplanted cells and were able to contain them at the site where they were implanted,” says Das. The control cells that were not contained in hydrogel were three times less viable than the cells contained in the hydrogel.

“Amyloids are among the most robust protein/peptide-based materials ever evolved in nature. We just utilised these superior materials property of amyloids for targeting stem cell delivery in the brain and their differentiation to neurons. On the one hand, amyloid-based hydrogels are capable of protecting delicate stem cells within the hydrogels matrix, while on the other hand, they are able to guide the differentiation of stem cells towards neurons,” Samir K. Maji from the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Bombay and the corresponding author of the paper says in a release.

There are three major challenges when stem cells are transplanted or injected into the brain - the cells should survive, should not migrate to different places where they are not required, and should become functional neurons and integrate with the existing neural circuit. “Our material has solved the first two challenges. We are now working on the third one,” says Das confidently.

                                                            SOURCE- THE HINDU October 16, 2016 18:52 IST

Important Synthesis, Mechanism Of action and their uses For 2nd Sessional 2016 (B.pharm 5th Sem)

1.Lignocaine

2.Ephedrine

3.Pilocarpine

4.Neostigmine

5.Physostigmine

6.Methohexital

7.Ketamine

SAR

1.Local anesthetics
2.Cholinergic Drugs
3.Adrenergic Drugs

Welcome to all

Welcome to all

Welcome to all

Welcome to all

Welcome to All

Send me an e-mail if you find something useful to add to these lists –samareshdattaand@gmail.com/dattas81@gmail.com/drashumishra1970@gmail.com

Latin Symbols in Physics & Chemistry (items in bold are vectors)

a	acceleration (m/s2)
A	ampere (S.I. unit of current, fundamental)
A	amplitude (typically m)
B	magnetic field (T)
B	bulk modulus (N/m2)
c	specific heat capacity (J/(kg*K))
c	speed of light (m/s)
C	molar heat capacity (J/(mol*K))
C	coulomb (S.I. unit of charge = A*s)
cal	calorie (non-S.I. unit of energy = 4.186 J)
Cal	Calorie or kcal (non-S.I. unit of energy = 4186 J)
d	distance (m)
dB	decibels (non-S.I. unit of intensity)
e	magnitude of charge of an electron (C)
e	efficiency (dimensionless)
eV	electron-Volt (non-S.I. unit of energy = 1.60E-19 J)
E	energy (J)
E	electric field (N/C)
f	frequency (Hz. or s-1)
f	friction force (N)
f	focal length (m)
F	force (N)
F	farad, S.I. unit of capacitance = A2*s4/(kg*m2)
g	magnitude of free fall acceleration ≈ 9.80 m/s2
g	gram (non-S.I. unit of mass = 0.001 kg)
G	universal gravitational constant
h	Plank’s constant (6.63E-34 J*s)
h	height (m)
Hz	hertz, S.I. unit of frequency = s-1
i, I	current (A)
I	moment of inertia, kg*m2
I	intensity, W/m2
j	current density, A/m2
j	impulse, kg*m/s
J	joule, S.I. unit of energy = kg*m2/s2
k	Boltzmann’s constant, J/K
k	spring constant, N/m
k	thermal conductivity, W/(m*K)
k	wave number, rad/m
kg	kilogram, S.I. unit of mass, fundamental
K	kelvin, S.I. unit of temperature, fundamental
K	kinetic energy, J
l	length, m
L	liter, non-S.I. unit of volume
L	latent heat, J/kg
L	angular momentum (J*s)
m	mass, kg
m	meter (S.I. unit of distance)
n	index of refraction (dimensionless)
n	number of moles
N	number of particles
N	newton (S.I. unit of force = kg*m/s2)
N	normal force (N)
NA	Avogadro’s number
p	momentum (kg*m/s)
p, P	pressure (Pa = N/m2 = kg/(m*s2)
P	power (W)
q, Q	charge (C)
Q	heat (J)
r	radius variable (m)
R	fixed radius (m)
R	ideal gas constant (8.31 J/(mol*K))
R	resistance (Ω)
s	seconds (S.I. unit of time)
s	generic position, could be x, y, or z (m)
S	entropy (J/K)
t	time (s)
T	period (s)
T	temperature (K)
T	tension force (N)
T	tesla (S.I. unit of magnetic field)
u	atomic mass unit, non-S.I. unit of mass
u	energy density (J/m3)
U	potential energy (J)
v, v	velocity, speed (m/s)
V	volt (S.I. unit of potential)
V	potential (V)
V	voltage or potential difference (V), more correctly written as ΔV
V	volume (m3)
w, W	weight force (N)
W	watt (S.I. unit of power = kg*m2/s3)
W	work (J)
x	Cartesian coordinate (m)
y	Cartesian coordinate (m)
Y	Young’s modulus (N/m2)
z	Cartesian coordinate (m)

                          Greek Symbols

α	alpha	angular acceleration (rad/s2)
α	alpha	temperature coefficient of linear expansion (K-1)
β	beta	temperature coefficient of volume expansion (K-1)
γ	gamma	ratio of heat capacities (dimensionless)
γ	gamma	relativistic gamma factor (dimensionless)
Γ	gamma (capital)
δ	delta	instantaneous change
Δ	delta (capital)	finite change
ε	epsilon	permittivity
ζ	zeta
η	eta	efficiency (dimensionless)
θ	theta	angle (rad)
Θ	theta (capital)
ι	iota
κ	kappa	dielectric constant (dimensionless)
λ	lambda	wavelength (m)
Λ	lambda (capital)
μ	mu	coefficient of friction (dimensionless)
ν	nu
ξ	xi
Ξ	xi (capital)
π	pi	circumference/diameter ratio (dimensionless)
Π	pi (capital)	series product
ρ	rho	density (kg/m3)
ρ	rho	resistivity (Ω*m)
σ	sigma	Stefan-Boltzmann constant
Σ	sigma (capital)	series summation
τ	tau	torque (N x m)
τ	tau	time constant (s)
υ	upsilon
φ	phi	angle (rad)
Φ	phi (capital)
χ	chi
ψ	psi	psychic power (W)
ψ	psi	wave function (dimensionless)
Ψ	psi (capital)	wave function (dimensionless)
ω	omega	angular velocity (rad/s)
Ω	omega (capital)	ohms (S.I. unit of resistance = V/A)

                             Common Subscripts

av or ave	average
c	cold
f	final
h	hot
i	initial
max	maximum
min	minimum
0	initial
rms	root mean square
th	thermal
tot	total