Understanding behavioural intention of experiencing virtual tourism during COVID-19: An extension of theory of planned behaviour

Purpose – The overall purpose of this study is to assess consumers’ behavioural intentions regarding virtual tourism COVID -19 using the TPB. This work sought to assess the applicability of TPB utilising its foremost constructs, i.e., attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control, with the inclusion of perceived security. Design/Methodology – A web-based questionnaire was utilised to gather the data that was randomised. A link to a Google form was posted on the websites of travel companies offering virtual tours and other social networking sites from August 1, 2021, to September 15, 2021, resulting in 408 usable responses. The data were analysed via SEM using the programmes AMOS and SPSS, and statistical analysis was performed for the proposed hypotheses. Approach – This paper presents the latest findings and important details about consumers’ behavioural intentions regarding virtual tourism in a bid to provide insightful details for the tourism and travel sector in general and for travel agencies offering virtual tourism packages in particular. Findings – Research findings suggest that subjective norm and perceived safety influence people’s behavioural intentions toward virtual tourism as an alternate to on-site tourism. 52% of the variance in behavioural intention toward virtual tourism during the Corona virus period was explained by the factors as a whole. Originality – This study lends to the evaluation of consumer interest in virtual travel by linking the TPB variables to perceived safety, making it a novelty of its kind. So far as the authors are aware, no previous work in the Indian context has evaluated TPB by including a measure of perceived safety in its attempt to shed light on Indians’ behaviour toward virtual tourism

INCLUSION OF NUCLEAR ENVELOPE IN NON-SPHERICAL CELLULAR GEOMETRY

ABSTRACT; Mathematical modeling of drug diffusion system is a strenuous task INTRODUCTION It is essential to know the biology of the cell to understand the physical and chemical processes. The cell is a microscopic systemic and functional unit of living organism. The inherent features of cell are cell membrane, cytoplasm and nucleus. The cytoplasm has a very complex structure having many different organelles named as the endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, mitochondria and the vacuole. The nucleus having nuclear membrane is encircled by a double layered membrane; named as nuclear envelope having nuclear pores on it that allow protein to pass, and the space between the membranes is known as perinuclear space

Improving accountability for equitable health and well-being in urban informal spaces: Moving from dominant to transformative approaches

This article critically reviews the literature on urban informality, inequity, health, well-being and accountability to identify key conceptual, methodological and empirical gaps in academic and policy discourses. We argue that critical attention to power dynamics is often a key missing element in these discourses and make the case for explicit attention to the operation of power throughout conceptualization, design and conduct of research in this space. We argue that: (a) urban informality reflects the exercise of power to confer and withhold advantage; (b) the dominant biomedical model of health poorly links embodied experiences and structural contexts; (c) existing models of accountability are inadequate in unequal, pluralistic governance and provision environments. We trace four conceptual and empirical directions for transformative approaches to power relations in urban health equity research

Molecular Analyses of Old World Leishmania RAPD Markers and Development of a PCR Assay Selective for Parasites of the L. donovani Species Complex

International audienceThree amplicons, appearing in a species-specific manner on the electrophoregrams of RAPD reactions that were obtained with primer OPA1, OPA1-800, OPA1- 900, and OPA1-1200, are analyzed in this study. The study revealed that each of these products is composed of one Leishmania DNA band, taxonomically conserved among the different Old World species studied. Subsequently, only the electrophoretic position of the RAPD products can be considered species-specific. In addition, sequence data, genomic organization, and chromosomal location have proved that these fragments are different and physically independent. However, they possess common features related to the presence of different kinds of short DNA repeats, more particularly microsatellites and a CCCTTC motive, corresponding to the 3' half of the OPA1 primer. These results suggest that the OPA1 primer has initiated amplification from different priming sites, having a species-specific location. This corresponds to sequence micro-heterogeneity of DNA fragments present within the different species and leading eventually to a selective amplification of different RAPD products. This characteristic has been used to develop an original selective PCR test based on the sequence of the OPA1-800 product, in which only DNAs from the L. donovani species complex are amplified. Restriction site polymorphisms and sequence variations are identified within the PCR fragment amplified from these parasite DNAs. In fact, the OPA1-800 fragment proved to be a useful DNA marker either as a DNA probe or as a target for PCR-based assays. This tool can therefore be recommended for the control of Old World Leishmania parasites, such as species discrimination, molecular tracking of isolates, or study of polymorphisms within the L. donovani species complex. Moreover, the molecular bases underlying the amplification of the RAPD fragments studied correspond to mechanisms already described. Although they do not account for the amplification of all Leishmania RAPD products, such mechanisms stress some of the pitfalls of the technique, which need to be taken into consideration. We have identified at least misleading observations of DNA bands amplified in a species-specific manner, in spite of their presence in the genome of the other taxa, and relatedness between bands within the amplification profiles. Therefore, recommendations for careful interpretation of RAPD data in population genetics or phylogenetic analyses are reiterated. Molecular analyses are essential to validate conclusions

Hyperglycaemia, stress oxidant, liver dysfunction and histological changes in diabetic male rat pancreas and liver: Protective effect of 17β-estradiol

International audienceOxidative stress is thought to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of chronic diabetic complications. We investigated the protective effects of 17 beta-estradiol (E2) on alloxan-induced stress oxidant, hepatic dysfunction and histological changes in male rats liver and pancreas. Our results showed that17 beta-estradiol could attenuate the increase of blood glucose in plasma and normalise the hepatic glycogen level. In addition, E2 enhanced superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) (by 207, 52 and 72%, respectively, as compared to diabetic rats), reduced lipid peroxidation in the hepatic tissue (by 54%) and improved the liver dysfunction parameters by the significant decrease of gamma-glytamyl transferase (GGT), phosphatases alkalines (PAL), lactate deshydrogenase (LDH) and aspartate and lactate transaminases (AST and ALT) activities which increased in diabetic rats. Moreover, 17 beta-estradiol treatment in diabetic rats protects against alloxan-induced pancreatic beta-cells and hepatic cells damages

Antioxidant supplementation partially rescues accelerated ovarian follicle loss, but not oocyte quality, of glutathione-deficient mice

The tripeptide thiol antioxidant glutathione (GSH) has multiple physiological functions. Female mice lacking the modifier subunit of glutamate cysteine ligase (GCLM), the rate-limiting enzyme in GSH synthesis, have decreased GSH concentrations, ovarian oxidative stress, preimplantation embryonic mortality, and accelerated age-related decline in ovarian follicles. We hypothesized that supplementation with thiol antioxidants, N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), or α-lipoic acid (ALA) will rescue this phenotype. Gclm-/- and Gclm+/+ females received 0 or 80 mM NAC in drinking water from postnatal day (PND) 21-30; follicle growth was induced with equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) on PND 27, followed by an ovulatory dose of human CG and mating with a wild type male on PND 29 and zygote harvest 20 h after hCG. N-acetyl cysteine supplementation failed to rescue the low rate of second pronucleus formation in zygotes from Gclm-/- versus Gclm+/+ females. In the second study, Gclm-/- and Gclm+/+ females received diet containing 0, 150, or 600 mg/kg ALA beginning at weaning and were mated with wild type males from 8 to 20 weeks of age. α-Lipoic acid failed to rescue the decreased offspring production of Gclm-/- females. However, 150 mg/kg diet ALA partially rescued the accelerated decline in primordial follicles, as well as the increased recruitment of follicles into the growing pool and the increased percentages of follicles with γH2AX positive oocytes or granulosa cells of Gclm-/- females. We conclude that ovarian oxidative stress is the cause of accelerated primordial follicle decline, while GSH deficiency per se may be responsible for preimplantation embryonic mortality in Gclm-/- females