Pilgrimage Tourism: A Study on Palani Temple, Tamil Nadu

India is a large country with great traditions, culture, and civilization. India has 4000 years of fertile civilized life with planned cities, monumental temples, mosques and churches,  palaces,  sculptures,  paintings  and  various artistic creations. These scenic beauties have made India one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world. The Tourism potential of any country mainly depends on its climate, scenery, historical monuments, arts, tradition, festivals  and  the  society.  If  any  place  or  area  or  spot possesses all these characters and potentials, we may call it  as  a  tourist  centre  or  pilgrim  centre.  Tamil  Nadu,  a southern State of India, is a land of charm with ancient traditions;  the  picturesque  land  of  Tamil  Nadu  has towering temples  with  magnificent  architecture  and sculptures,  art  galleries  and  heterogeneous  natural beauty, existing on the hills and mountains. Tamil Nadu is flooded with different cultural, spiritual and religious centres  like  Madurai,  Rameswaram,  Kanyakumari, Tanjavur,  Kumbakonam,  Trichy,  Kancheepuram, Chidambaram,  Tiruvannamalai  and  Palani.  Religious institutions like temples in Tamil Nadu have been playing a  multifaceted  role in  religious,  social,  economic  and cultural life of the Tamil community. Moreover, temples are  considered  as producers,  land  owners,  trustees,employers,  pilgrim  centres  and  institutions.    There  are studies  conducted  in  cultural  and  spiritual tourism centres, which focus on heritage, culture and the historical aspects.  But  studies  that  focus  on  economic  aspects  of such  centres  are  scanty.  With  this  background,  the authors have made an attempt to study the memories and reminiscence  of  150  Pilgrimage  tourists,  who  visited Palani Temple; one of the Six abodes  of Lord Muruga located in the Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu, with an objective  of  examining  the  social and  economic characteristics  of the pilgrimage  tourists;  and  identify their major problems and suggest ways and means for promoting  pilgrimage  tourism  in  Palani.  The  Primary data has been collected through interview schedules. The interview  schedule  was  pre-tested,  modified and  well- structured, and was used for obtaining information and data from the cultural-spiritual tourists, who are visiting the Palani temple. Secondary data in connection with the Palani temple were also gathered from the office of the Commissioner, Palani temple. Further, the authors have collected  data  and  information  from  150  tourists  who visited  the  Palani  temple  during  June-July  2011.  The tourists  were purposively selected in different spots in and  around the Palani  temple.  For  the  purpose  of analyzing the data, simple tools like ratio, percentage and average were use

Molecular analysis of the LDLR gene in coronary artery disease patients from the Indian population

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of mortality in Indian population. Mutations in LDLR, APOB and PCSK9 genes may lead to Familial Hypercholesterolemia, an autosomal dominant disorder which in turn leads to cardiovascular diseases. The primary objective of this study is to analyze these genes in CAD patients of Indian population. METHODS: A total of 30 patients were selected out of 300 CAD patients based on UK-Simon Broome criteria from South India. The gDNA was isolated by organic extraction method and the exons and exon-intron boundaries of LDLR gene, APOB (exon 26) and PCSK9 (exon 7) were screened by PCR-high resolution melt analysis. The amplicons showing shift in melting pattern were sequenced to find out the variation. RESULTS: This study reports three novel variations, an intronic deletion c.694+8_694+18del in intron 4, a synonymous variation c.966 C>T [p. (N322=)] in exon 7 and a deletion insertion c.1399_1340delinsTA [p. (T467Y)] in exon 10, two recurrent variations c.862G>A [p. (E288K)] in exon 6 and a splice site variation c.1845+2T>C in exon-intron junction of exon 12 in LDLR gene and PCSK9 gene had c.1180+17C>T change in intron 7. However there are no pathogenic variations in APOB and PCSK9 genes in Indian population. In silico analysis predicted all the variations as pathogenic except the synonymous variation. CONCLUSION: This report adds five new variations to the spectrum of LDLR variations in Indian population. This study also suggests that UK Simon Broom criteria can be followed to categorize FH patients in Indian population

Emodin Suppresses Migration and Invasion through the Modulation of CXCR4 Expression in an Orthotopic Model of Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma

10.1371/journal.pone.0057015PLoS ONE83

Implications of reactive oxygen species in lung cancer and exploiting it for therapeutic interventions.

Lung cancer is the second (11.4%) most commonly diagnosed cancer and the first (18%) to cause cancer-related deaths worldwide. The incidence of lung cancer varies significantly among men, women, and high and low-middle-income countries. Air pollution, inhalable agents, and tobacco smoking are a few of the critical factors that determine lung cancer incidence and mortality worldwide. Reactive oxygen species are known factors of lung carcinogenesis resulting from the xenobiotics and their mechanistic paths are under critical investigation. Reactive oxygen species exhibit dual roles in cells, as a tumorigenic and anti-proliferative factor, depending on spatiotemporal context. During the precancerous state, ROS promotes cancer origination through oxidative stress and base-pair substitution mutations in pro-oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. At later stages of tumor progression, they help the cancer cells in invasion, and metastases by activating the NF-kB and MAPK pathways. However, at advanced stages, when ROS exceeds the threshold, it promotes cell cycle arrest and induces apoptosis in cancer cells. ROS activates extrinsic apoptosis through death receptors and intrinsic apoptosis through mitochondrial pathways. Moreover, ROS upregulates the expression of beclin-1 which is a critical component to initiate autophagy, another form of programmed cell death. ROS is additionally involved in an intermediatory step in necroptosis, which catalyzes and accelerates this form of cell death. Various therapeutic interventions have been attempted to exploit this cytotoxic potential of ROS to treat different cancers. Growing body of evidence suggests that ROS is also associated with chemoresistance and cancer cell immunity. Considering the multiple roles of ROS, this review highlights the exploitation of ROS for various therapeutic interventions. However, there are still gaps in the literature on the dual roles of ROS and the involvement of ROS in cancer cell immunity and therapy resistance

An anthraquinone derivative, emodin sensitizes hepatocellular carcinoma cells to TRAIL induced apoptosis through the induction of death receptors and downregulation of cell survival proteins

10.1007/s10495-013-0851-5Apoptosis18101175-1187APOP