Blood Transfusions: Are They Life Saving or Transfusing Infections?

Introduction: There is a risk of 1 - 2 per 1000 recipients receiving contaminated blood with viral, bacterial and parasitic agents.TTI’S are the most commonly encountered complications in transfusion medicine. The objective of the study was to determine the seroprevalence of TTI’s among blood donors, who represent healthy population at large. Materials & methods: A total of 33,658 blood units were received from voluntary and replacement donors over a period of 5 years. Surface antigen of HBV and antibodies to HIV and HCV were determined using ELISA. Syphilis was detected using TPHA test. Results: 947 (2.81%) blood units tested positive for HBV, HCV, HIV and / or syphilis. Overall prevalence was HBV – 1.77%, HCV – 0.13%, HIV – 0.63% and Syphilis – 0.28%. Nine (0.03%) donors had coinfections. Conclusion: The screening of blood donors is the corner stone in assuring the safety of blood transfusion

Nuclear Confrontations

The effect of nuclear weapons has long been debated. Some argue that these weapons have a stabilizing effect on already volatile regions and rivals, while others fear that it will only further escalate tensions. This undergraduate thesis studies how relations between countries have changed once a country has attained nuclear weapons. Specifically, whether Militarized Interstate Disputes (MIDs) have increased or decreased before and after the acquisition of nuclear weapons. In order to do so, I look at the severity and occurrence of MIDs to see trends in changes of state attitudes because of nuclear weapons, through the lenses of the three most popular nuclear schools of thought: deterrence, stability/instability paradox and irrelevance.Ope

Beneath the Lines: Re-reading the Women’s Magazines of Kerala

Mass media, whether it be print, visual or digital acts as one of the most affluent means of communication. Magazines are one of the most popular forms of media which attract a large number of readers. The women’s magazines in Kerala are widely circulated among the populace. These magazines which are available with glossy cover pages also carry a bulk of advertisements in it. The content of these magazines including the advertisements is most often soaked with the ideologies propagated by the dominant sections of the society. They propagate elite class ideologies and promote gender disparities visibly or invisibly. Pertaining to the ubiquitous nature of women’s’ magazines in Kerala and its constant bragging about being a friend and guide to Kerala women, the paper tries to unfurl the strands of class hierarchies and patriarchal ideologies that has been interlaced into the discursive fabric of women’s magazines in Kerala, with special focus on Vanitha, which has a wide readership all over the state

Supramolecular Optical Chemosensors and Assays for Sensing of Bioactive Analytes in Water and Biofluids

The recognition and detection of biologically important analytes, especially small biomolecules, is of prime relevance and has become an upsurging area of research in chemistry and biology. Consequently, the development of robust chemical molecular sensors (“chemosensors”) based on artificial recognition elements with the potential to detect molecules with high sensitivity and selectivity and coupled with a sensitive signal transduction strategy continues to attract considerable attention. Optical methods based on fluorescence are highly desirable for signal transduction because of their versatility, high sensitivity, low cost with readily available instrumentation, and potential for real-time analysis. Thus, optical/fluorescent chemosensors, in combination with innovative assay protocols, find broad application potential in many disciplines, such as biochemistry and clinical and medical diagnostics. They offer a cost efficient alternative to conventional instrumental analytical methods, such as HPLC-MS, GC-MS, and NMR, and are superior to biosensors in terms of stability, equilibration time, price, and scope for small molecule detection. However, developing chemosensors that fully meet the requirements for practical applications is still challenging. The low binding affinity or selectivity of chemosensors for most biomolecules or their metabolites in biofluids, as well as the low stability of the chemosensor\u27s guest-host ensemble (e.g., upon dilution), are main reasons why the practical application potential of artificial chemosensors has not yet been fully realized. In this work, artificial chemosensors based on supramolecular host guest chemistry coupled with optical signal transduction are utilized to realize both detection and chirality sensing of biologically relevant analytes in aqueous media and complex biofluids. In addition, the various aspects of realizing their practical diagnostic applications are addressed. The first research project involves the development of electronic circular dichroism (ECD) based chemosensors for the detection and chirality sensing of diverse chiral organic analytes in water. Chemosensors that can detect molecular chirality are crucial due to the significance of chiral bio-relevant molecules and the influence of chirality on their related biological activity, e.g., in drug production. However, only a few chirality-based chemosensors are available to date for the detection of compounds in aqueous media. My thesis utilized achiral chromophoric hosts, i.e., acyclic cucurbit[n]urils and molecular tweezers as recognition elements in the chemosensor. The achiral chromophoric hosts were found to respond with information-rich induced ECD signals to the presence of micromolar concentrations of chiral small molecule guests, such as chiral hydrocarbons, terpenes, amino acids and their derivatives, steroids, and drugs in water. In favorable cases, this also allowed for analyte identification and reaction monitoring. In the second research project, fluorescence-detected circular dichroism (FDCD) spectroscopy is applied for the first time for the chiroptical analysis of supramolecular host guest and host protein systems and compared to the widely utilized electronic circular dichroism (ECD). The main goal was to explore the utility of FDCD to improve the sensitivity and selectivity of chiroptical supramolecular assays. The comprehensive investigations demonstrate that FDCD is an excellent choice for common supramolecular applications, e.g., the detection and chirality sensing of chiral organic analytes and label free reaction monitoring. FDCD can be conducted in favorable circumstances at much lower concentrations than ECD measurements, even in chromophoric and auto-emissive biofluids such as blood serum, overcoming the sensitivity limitation of absorbance-based chiroptical spectroscopy. Furthermore, the combined use of FDCD and ECD provided additional valuable information about the system, e.g., the chemical identity of an analyte or hidden aggregation phenomena. The third research project addresses the importance of thermodynamic and kinetic investigations to properly analyze the association and dissociation processes of supramolecular host-guest recognition interactions, which are crucial to designing host guest systems with improved properties and advancing their practical applications. However, kinetic descriptions of supramolecular systems are scarce in the literature, mainly due to the lack of suitable experimental protocols. Thus, three novel fluorescence-based time resolved approaches are introduced that allowed the convenient determination of kinetic rate constants of spectroscopically silent and even insoluble guests with the macrocyclic cucurbit[n]uril and human serum albumin as representative hosts. Furthermore, a new kinetic method is adopted to achieve selective analyte sensing even in situations of poor thermodynamic selectivity due to the host’s often observed similar binding affinities for structurally similar analytes. The method allowed a selective identification and quantification of analytes without the need to modify the parent host synthetically. The fourth research project involves the development of a novel fluorescent chemosensor for the detection of biogenic polyamines, which serve as health indicators in the human body. The fluorescent chemosensor self-assembled from sulfonated pillar[n]arene host in combination with suitable dicationic indicator dyes responds instantly with a fluorescence “turn on” signal to the presence of biogenic polyamines. The photophysical and binding properties of the new fluorescent chemosensor explored in detail in both saline buffers and biologically relevant media display their excellent functionality for polyamine sensing with no salt interferences on the sensing assay. Moreover, the chemosensor allowed the detection of biogenic polyamines down to the low micromolar concentration range in biofluids, such as urine and saliva, with good selectivity even in the presence of potential interferents present in the media. Thus, because of its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and fast detection capabilities, the newly developed fluorescent chemosensor for polyamines will assist the future development of rapid diagnostic tests for home-use and point-of-care applications. In summary, this doctoral thesis highlights the different strategies for developing supramolecular optical chemosensors for sensitive and selective analyte detection, which are also applicable in biologically relevant media. Future research and development of sensors with improved practical applicability will contribute significantly to the advancement of analytical chemistry and biochemical/medical research

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY OF THE JELLYFISH OUTBREAK ALONG THE UAE COASTAL WATERS

Jellyfish are a ubiquitous occurrence in the world’s oceans. During the past decades, dramatic spatial increases and temporal shifts in jellyfish distributions have been reported around the world. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), coastal area also has experienced several blooms along with severe adverse impacts on its economic facilities. Few studies have been conducted within the Arabian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, to identify the blooming species and the environmental parameters that favor such breakout. The present study aimed to identify the jellyfish species found along the coastal area of UAE and trying to link their occurrence with seasonal variations in environmental parameters during the period from December 2019 until August 2022. Another objective of this study was to increase our knowledge of the mechanisms leading to the proliferation of the two most common jellyfish species along the study area i.e. Catostylus mosaicus, and Cassiopea andromeda. Morphological analysis and molecular confirmation were used to identify these two species. Moreover, histological and biochemical analyses of the gonads were carried out to understand the seasonal variations in the reproductive biology of the two-dominant species. During the study period, six species have been identified as Catostylus mosaicus, Cassiopea andromeda, Aurelia aurita, Chrysaora quinquecirrha, Cephea cephea and Carybdea sivickisi. The spatial and temporal occurrence of all identified species have been discussed in light of the monthly temperature variations during the study period. The obtained results indicated that the Gonadosomatic Index (GS-I) of the two-dominant species showed a well-defined fluctuation throughout the study period. Indeed, Gametogenesis resembled descriptions for other rhizostomes and semaeostomes which can reproduce throughout the year with higher rate fluctuations in carbohydrates, protein, and lipid concentrations too. This research represents the most comprehensive study of jellyfish along the UAE coastal area. From the obtained results and observations, the need for continuous monitoring of jellyfish blooms as well as surveying for new species introduction to the Arabian Gulf and the study of its habitat and its reproduction and feeding habits are recommended. This will be helpful in predicting any negative impact of its blooming, and to face the consequences by taking enough precautionary measures

Standardization of Perioperative Management of the Breastfeeding Women

Mother\u27s milk is the optimal nutrition for the term and preterm neonates. The psychological and physiological stressors in the perioperative setting can impede a lactating mother\u27s ability to breastfeed in the postoperative setting successfully. A best-practice guideline incorporating a stoplight color-coding chart and categories such as safe, caution, and consider avoidance was used to group medications according to their safety for anesthesia providers in a large urban academic medical center in Pennsylvania. The evidence-based guideline also provided links to the hospital policy, LactMed, and Hale database to streamline resources and aid in the rapid decision-making of anesthesia providers in identifying the safety profiles of common medications administered in the perioperative setting. The best practice guidelines were published on the anesthesia department website for improved accessibility. The post-implementation survey results demonstrated that anesthesia providers would use this best-practice guideline during their clinical decision-making to support lactating mothers to continue breastfeeding after surgery. There were no guidelines directed to the care of this patient population at the host facility prior to the implementation of this project. The long-term effectiveness of this guideline can be evaluated through repeated assessments of staff knowledge and improvement in patient satisfaction. Standard perioperative practice for breastfeeding patients by encouraging resuming breastfeeding as soon as the mother can safely hold the baby can optimize outcomes for the mother and the baby. Keywords: breastfeeding, perioperative, lactation, pharmacokinetics, bioavailabilit

Diversity Within Literature

While our secondary classrooms grow more and more racially/ethnically diverse, common sense would tell us that our literature needs to reflect that, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of books that include diverse racial and ethnic representation. The issue is not the lack of literature but rather the lack of exposure to students in secondary schools in the US. Through my research, I question the dichotomy between the racially and ethnically diverse literature that exists and the racially and ethnically diverse literature that is in the hands of our students. After placing published scholarship in conversation with one another, I share some of my next steps in moving forward with this research question because BIPOC deserve to be represented in the classroom

Analysis of placental pathology and fetal outcome

Background: A careful examination of placenta along with microscopic study may frequently point to the cause of perinatal death. The American College of Pathologists has provided guidelines for the examination of placenta. Aim of this study was to illustrate the gross and histopathological changes in placenta in certain normal and abnormal pregnancies and to analyse the relationship of placental pathology with fetal outcome.Methods: A prospective study of 120 deliveries at a tertiary teaching centre in India. Each placenta was studied macroscopically and sent to the pathology department for histological examination.  The study included placentas of normal pregnancies and those with maternal high-risk features. The placenta was fixed in formalin and 6 sections were taken. The paraffin sections were studied for vessel wall thickening, infarction, villitis, chorioangiosis, calcification and intervillous hemorrhage. The primary outcome variables were fetal and neonatal morbidity. Abnormal fetal /neonatal events in each histological group were compared with the normal group using Ψ2 test for homogeneity. For cell frequencies less than 5, Fischer exact test was used.Results: Vessel wall thickening was demonstrated in 54/120 patients (45%). 7 out of 54 (12.96%) fetuses were still born in this group compared to 2/30 (6.67%) with normal histology (p value <0.05). Infarcts were demonstrated in 15/120 (12.5%). The occurrence of abnormal neonatal events in this group was significant p <0.01.Conclusions: Placental histological features of vessel wall thickening, and infarction is associated with abnormal fetal and neonatal outcome. Larger studies are required to establish the inference

Asserting the Diasporic Identity in Uma Parameswaran’s Oeuvre

Uma Parameswaran is a versatile writer-critic who has attempted to capture the trauma and dilemma of the diasporic self. Drawing on her first hand knowledge of the white collar, professional and academic diaspora in Canada, she attempts to voice their dilemmas and confusions, and above all, their feeling of rootlessness, their fear that having been uprooted once, they will never again be able to take root anywhere, despite their best efforts. The angst of the diaspora, striving to retain their identity even as they struggle to assimilate and become one of “them”, forms the core of Uma Parameswaran’s oeuvre. She has coined the term “saclit” to denote the literature produced by South Asian Canadian Diaspora, and has also written numerous critical essays on the subject. She explains: “The literature of Canadian writers born on the Indian subcontinent.... is varied in content and form, but common to all of them is a passionate faith in their own voice that is raised to express their Canadian experience” (SACLT 3