Rethinking reading

Researchers largely agree that reading is not just an aid to acquire learning but it is an important means to facilitate thinking and therefore, enables an enhanced understanding of society and its problems. A holistic notion of education includes the ability to read with comprehension, as a necessary pre requisite. So there is a need to refashion 'reading' as ability and encourage a suitable reading habit. Efforts for the same will make a more profound impact if started at the elementary level of education. As a remarkable endeavour to achieve this is the Reading Development Cell set up by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). The End-term Survey Report: Mathura Pilot Project 2012-2013 prepared by Early Literacy Programme, Department of Elementary Education, NCERT provides these details. “NCERT had set up a Reading Development Cell in the year 2007 under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan with support of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The creation of this Cell marked the beginning of a significant attempt to focus the attention of policy makers and curriculum designers all over the country on the pedagogy of reading in the early classes.” (p. iii, Report) The highpoint of this programme is that it “emphasizes on using children's literature in the classroom to provide children with an environment conducive to reading.” (p. iii, Report) This renewed focus on children's literature is noteworthy

Knowledge, attitude, practice, and generation of electronic waste (e-waste) among students of health sciences in a private college in Pune

Background: In "the era of information," e-waste is a major threat to solid waste management and public health. E-waste contains dangerous and destructive compounds that may affect the environment and human health if not properly handled. The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice on e-waste and to determine e-waste generation rates for two electronic products: computers and cell (mobile) phones among health science students of the Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences, Pune. Methodology: A web-based and institution-based cross-sectional study of students pursuing different health science courses was conducted. Out of 680 students, 405 were randomly selected, dispersed in six strata, and the Google questionnaire was disseminated using a proportionate probability to size ratio, with 188 participants responding at a 46.41% response rate. Results: Out of 188 respondents, 95 (50.6%) and 77 (41.2%) study subjects knew about the health and environmental risks associated with e-waste. Physical damage caused 126 (67%) of the research participants to replace their electronics. 67% would learn about e-waste management if it were on the course. 66% purchase 1-3 electronics devices every year, while 23% purchase 4-6. Overall e-waste generation rates among the participants were 0.223 units/capita/year for computers and 0.42 units/capita/year for mobile phones. Conclusion: This research reveals a lack of understanding and behaviours related to e-waste among students of health sciences, highlighting the need for health education on e-waste for public health and awareness on safe e-waste disposal, both of which are critical for a risk-free future

The role of HER family signalling in breast cancer

The HER family of receptors plays a major role in a variety of cancers including breast cancer. Several researchers have shown that HER family overexpression in breast cancer is a significant prognostic factor, especially for survival and relapse. Therefore, many therapeutics are being developed to test the impact of HER family blockade in breast cancer. Although numerous therapies have been developed, many have not been very successful in the clinic. This is often a consequence of cancer cells developing new mechanisms to activate HER family signalling indirectly through cross talk with compensatory pathways. Thus, it is vital to consider the biology of the HER signalling network to a greater extent, which includes RAS/MAPK, PI3K/AKT, mTOR, JAK/STAT, ER and AhR pathways and, also identify breast cancer patient populations that will benefit from specific targeted therapies that target these pathways. In the current study, 6 breast cancer cell lines (MCF7, T47D and ZR-75-1, SKBR3, MDA-MB 468 and MDA-MB 231) representing distinct molecular subtypes of breast cancer have been used to investigate anti-cancer effects of a variety of agents. These agents include clinical as well as currently experimental and entirely novel pharmacological agents alone or in combination. Among the clinical agents studied, it was found that EGF and Gefitinib were significantly potent against the HER2 overexpressing SKBR3 cell line, out of the panel of cell lines studied. EGF and Gefitinib showed a slightly different spectrum of activity from each other against the SKBR3 cell line. However, more research is needed to determine whether EGF could be used as a therapy for HER2 overexpressing breast cancer. Even though Gefitinib is currently used as a treatment in the clinic, the therapeutic window of this agent is drastically narrowed by its poor bioavailability, acquired resistance and systemic toxicity. Thus, in the current study, encapsulation of Gefitinib within the cavity of human heavy chain (H) apoferritin (AFt), provided a route for sustained release of Gefitinib from the H-AFt cavity, which demonstrated enhanced anti-tumour activity, at a longer duration against the SKBR3 cell line compared to Gefitinib alone. Overexpression of HER2 is considered to confer a more aggressive phenotype in breast cancer. Many patients have shown resistance to existing clinical agents such as Trastuzumab, demonstrating the need for novel therapies. Hence, 2 novel HER2 targeting human H and light chain (L)-AFt-fusion proteins were tested, and it was found that the nanoagent - H-AFt-fusion protein was very potent against the SKBR3 cell line compared to the L-AFt-fusion protein. This novel H-AFt-fusion protein abolished SKBR3 colony formation completely, caused a G1 arrest and a reduction in the orchestration of S and G2/M cell cycle events and also induced a large SKBR3 apoptotic population demonstrating its potent cytotoxic effects. Furthermore, this agent down-regulated the HER2 protein remarkably which resulted in significant down-regulation of the RAS/MAPK, PI3K/AKT and JAK/STAT signal transduction pathways in SKBR3 cells. Previous research has shown that a combination of pharmacological agents are more effective against cancer than individual agents due to up-regulation of compensatory signalling pathways which cancer cells use to thrive and acquire resistance to agents. Thus, several agents were tested in combination. Out of the agents tested it was found that 3 dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitors were potent against the triple negative breast cancer cell line - MDA-MB 468 and the HER2 overexpressing SKBR3 cell line. Further, Gefitinib in combination with an experimental AhR ligand - 5F 203, showed synergistic growth inhibition against the SKBR3 cell line by inducing CYP1A1, thereby resulting in a large apoptotic population. It was observed that the effect of Gefitinib was mainly potentiated by the effect of 5F 203 within the agent combination. There is a momentous unmet medical need for the development of effective therapies that can stabilise or slow the progression of breast cancer, therefore, these results may contribute to existing knowledge or enhance further understanding of the HER signalling network and therapies targeting this network. It may also guide potential treatment options which might lead to significant improvements in breast cancer therapy in the clinic thereby personalising therapy for patients with breast cancer

Effect of soybean plant phenols and flavonoid on the mean leaf area consumed by Spodopteralitura and Spilosoma obliqua larvae

The aim of the present investigation was to study the effect of soybean plant phenols and flavonoid content on the mean leaf area consumed by Spodopteralitura and Spilosoma obliqua larva. Phenols and flavonoid content in methanolic leaf extract of thirty three genotypes of soybean were determined by spectrophotometrically. Thehighest and lowest phenolic content were found in genotypes JS-20-41(2.2±0.073 mg/g) and CSB 904 (0.45 ±0.11 mg/g), respectively. While the highest and lowest flavonoid content was found in genotypes SL 979 4.686± 0.062 mg QE/ g, respectively. In correlation study a highly significant negative correlation was observed between mean leaf area consumed (cm2) by S. litura, phenol content (-0.741 ) and flavonoid content (-0.737) similarly a highly significant negative correlation was observed between mean leaf area consumed by S. obliqua, phenol content (-0.728) and flavonoid content (-0.736) in leaves. Hence it can be concluded that, the genotypes which were having higher phenol and flavonoid content in their leaves offered resistance against S. litura and S. boliqua in soybean

'Decision support system (DSS) for prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among hypertensive (HTN) patients in Andhra Pradesh, India'--a cluster randomised community intervention trial.

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.BACKGROUND: Very few studies having decision support systems as an intervention report on patient outcomes for cardiovascular disease in the Western world. The potential role of decision support system for the management of blood pressure among Indian hypertensives remains unclear. We propose a cluster randomised trial that aims to test the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of DSS among Indian hypertensive patients. METHODS: The trial design is a cluster randomised community intervention trial, in which the participants would be adult male and female hypertensive patients, in the age group of 35 to 64 years, reporting to the Primary Health Care centres of Mahabubnagar district, Andhra Pradesh, India. The objective of the study is to test the effectiveness and compare the cost effectiveness and cost utility among hypertensive subjects randomized to receive either decision support system or a chart based algorithmic support system in urban and rural areas of a district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India (baseline versus 12 months follow up). The primary outcome would be a comparison of the systolic blood pressure at 0 and 12 months among hypertensive patients randomized to receive the decision support system or the chart based algorithmic support system. Computer generated randomisation and an investigator and analyser blinded method would be followed. 1600 participants; 800 to each arm; each arm having eight clusters of hundred participants each have been recruited between 01 August 2011 - 01 March 2012. A twelve month follow up will be completed by March 2013 and results are expected by April 2013. DISCUSSION: This cluster randomized community intervention trial on DSS will enable policy makers to find out the effectiveness, cost effectiveness and cost utility of decision support system for management of blood pressure among hypertensive patients in India. Most of the previous studies on decision support system have focused on physician performance, adherence and on preventive care reminders. The uniqueness of the proposed study lies in finding out the effectiveness of a decision support system on patient related outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: CTRI/2012/03/002476, Clinical Trial Registry - India

Variation in Amino Acids Composition through Pre column Derivatisation using Phenylisothiocyanate by HPLC in Some Economically Important Less Explored Wild Allium Species of Western Himalayas

Less explored Allium species are being used as green vegetables and as a condiment by the local inhabitant of high-altitude areas of Uttarakhand. In the present study, four economically important less explored wild Allium species viz. A. auriculatum, A. ampeloprasum, A. ascalonicum and A. rubellum have screened for their amino acid contents by High-performance liquid chromatography. The hydrochloric acid hydrolysate of these four species, the Allium amino acids were derivatised with phenylisothiocyanate resulting phenylthiocarbamyl derivatives and separated on a reverse-phase column by gradient elution with aqueous buffer and acetonitrile-water (60:40 v/v) and detected in UV region at 254 nm. The Pico-tag (3.9 × 300 mm) C18 column equilibrated with the solvents. The elution of all amino acid derivatives was achieved in 12 min using gradient elution by increasing concentration of aqueous buffer and acetonitrile-water. Total seventeen amino acids were present in these Allium species. The ratio of essential amino acids to total amino acids found 1:2.14 in Allium auriculatum, 1:2.35 in Allium ampeloprasum, 1:1.38 in A. ascalonicum and 1:3.44 in Allium rubellum. These less explored Allium species contained substantial amount of essential and non-essential amino acids. Among these Allium species, Allium auriculatum and Allium rubellum found most promising as far as essential and non-essential amino acids composition concerned