An Empirical Study on the Impact of HRD Practices on NPOs in Utilizing Foreign Contributions Received

Nonprofit organizations in India represent a significant portion and they make a strong contribution to the economic wellbeing of our country. The human resources are vital for achieving the sustainable growth and development of organization. Firstly, objective is to analyze the workforce perception of NPOs towards the HRD practices of NPO. Secondly, the amount of FCR and FCU by NPOs are analyzed and compared. Thirdly, the efficiency of NPOs is measured based on their HRD practices. Lastly the impact of HRD practices on the efficiency of NPOs are measured. Based on the objective’s hypothesis were formulated and tested. The study found that the NPO’s workforce has positively perceived HRD practices followed in their organization. The respondents have agreed and given a positive opinion towards the HRD practices viz., appraisal system, Training and development, career development and recognition, and organizational environment followed in their organizations. The study found that HRD practices have a significant positive impact on the development of NPOs in Karnataka.  Large-sized NPOs are generating larger amount, whereas small-sized NPOs are acquiring lesser number of foreign contributions. NPOs with better HRD practices are efficient in utilizing the foreign contributions received by them. The efficiency of the NPOs increases as they adapt better HRD practices, and the efficiency of NPOs decrease as they ignore HRD practices

BLOODSTREAM INFECTION WITH OLIGELLA UREOLYTICA IN INFANT: A CASE REPORT AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Oligella ureolytica is rarely involved as human pathogen but it is emerging as pathogenic bacteria. It is not commonly recovered from clinical specimens but when recovered, it is mostly from urinary and respiratory tract specimens as commensal organisms, but hardly from blood samples. We present here a case of O. ureolytica related bacteremia in a 1-month-old infant as a pure culture and we review the literature of previously reported cases of Oligella infections

A short term comparative evaluation of the efficacy of diode laser with desensitizing toothpastes and mouthwashes in the treatment of dentinal hypersensitivity

Treatment of dentinal hypersensitivity (DH) has always been challenging with a wide variety of therapeutic options, in-office and home care. The study objective was to compare the clinical efficacy of diode laser [DL] with four commercially available des

Condensation transition in a model with attractive particles and non-local hops

We study a one dimensional nonequilibrium lattice model with competing features of particle attraction and non-local hops. The system is similar to a zero range process (ZRP) with attractive particles but the particles can make both local and non-local hops. The length of the non-local hop is dependent on the occupancy of the chosen site and its probability is given by the parameter $p$. Our numerical results show that the system undergoes a phase transition from a condensate phase to a homogeneous density phase as $p$ is increased beyond a critical value $p_c$. A mean-field approximation does not predict a phase transition and describes only the condensate phase. We provide heuristic arguments for understanding the numerical results.Comment: 11 Pages, 6 Figures. Published in Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experimen

A truncated lipoglycan from mycobacteria with altered immunological properties

Maintenance of cell-wall integrity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis is essential and is the target of several antitubercular drugs. For example, ethambutol targets arabinogalactan and lipoarabinomannan (LAM) biosynthesis through the inhibition of several arabinofuranosyltransferases. Apart from their role in cell-wall integrity, mycobacterial LAMs also exhibit important immunomodulatory activities. Here we report the isolation and detailed structural characterization of a unique LAM molecule derived from Mycobacterium smegmatis deficient in the arabinofuranosyltransferase AftC (AftC-LAM). This mutant LAM expresses a severely truncated arabinan domain completely devoid of 3,5-Araf–branching residues, revealing an intrinsic involvement of AftC in the biosynthesis of LAM. Furthermore, we found that ethambutol efficiently inhibits biosynthesis of the AftC-LAM arabinan core, unambiguously demonstrating the involvement of the arabinofuranosyltransferase EmbC in early stages of LAM-arabinan biosynthesis. Finally, we demonstrate that AftC-LAM exhibits an enhanced proinflammatory activity, which is due to its ability to activate Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2). Overall, our efforts further describe the mechanism of action of an important antitubercular drug, ethambutol, and demonstrate a role for specific arabinofuranosyltransferases in LAM biosynthesis. In addition, the availability of sufficient amounts of chemically defined wild-type and isogenic truncated LAMs paves the way for further investigations of the structure–function relationship of TLR2 activation by mycobacterial lipoglycans

Rheumatoid Arthritis and Periodontal Disease

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an immune-mediated inflammatory disease (IMID), chronic progressive causing inflammation in the joints and resulting in painful deformity and immobility, especially in the fingers, wrists, feet, and ankles. Periodontitis is defined as an inflammatory disease of supporting tissues of teeth caused by specific microorganisms or their groups, resulting in progressive destruction of the periodontal ligament and alveolar bone with periodontal pocket formation, clinical attachment loss, or both. Individuals manifesting both periodontitis and RA may suffer from a unifying underlying systemic dysregulation of the inflammatory response. In the past few years, increasing attention has been given to aspects of oral health in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, especially related to associations with periodontal disease. In this chapter we will be reviewing about the pathophysiology of RA and role of inflammation, periodontal disease: a gateway to RA, oral manifestations of RA, immunogenetics of RA and periodontitis, treatment implications for RA and periodontitis based on common pathophysiology

Development of Fertilizer Prescription Targeted Yield-Equation for Carrot Crop Based on Soil Test Values

A field experiment was conducted on red soils (Kandic paleustalfs) of Zonal Agricultural Research Station, GKVK, Bangalore during kharif 2008-09 to develop a targeted yield equation for carrot crop. After developing three levels of fertility gradient with respect to available NPK in soil, the main experiment was conducted by taking carrot as a test crop. Initial soil data, carrot root yield and NPK uptake by carrot crop were used for obtaining four important basic parameters, viz., nutrients required to produce a quintal of carrot roots (NR%), contribution of nutrients from fertilizers (CF%), contribution of nutrients from soil (CS%) and contribution of nutrients from organic matter (%C-OM). These parameters were used for developing fertilizer-adjustment targeted yield equation. Comparison of the present soil testing laboratory method with Soil Test Crop Response approach of fertilizer recommendation clearly indicated superiority of STCR targeted yield approach for efficient and economic use of fertilizers to attain the required yield target

Prevalence of psychiatric co morbidities in bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients in north Indian population cohort

Background: Psychiatric co morbidities tend to occur quite frequently in patients of chronic respiratory diseases mainly bronchial asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) but still it is highly under diagnosed. Aim and objective of the study was to find out the prevalence of psychiatric co morbidities in asthma and COPD and to correlate them with disease severity according to Global Initiative against Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) and Global Initiative against Asthma (GINA) guidelines.Methods: Study was conducted in Department of TB and Chest in association with Department of Psychiatry of Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences, a secondary care medical college in north India. A total 204 patients, 68 of bronchial asthma, 68 0f COPD and 68 were controls included in the study. Diagnosis and severity of respiratory diseases was assessed by spirometry. Evaluation of psychiatric co morbidities was done using the MINI international neuropsychiatric interview questionnaire.Results: The frequency of psychiatric co morbidities in COPD patients was significantly higher (32.4%) compared to patients of bronchial asthma (20.6%). The most common co morbidity in both arms was generalized anxiety disorder (17.6% in COPD patients and 10.3% in patients of bronchial asthma.Conclusions: COPD patients have a higher frequency of psychiatric co morbidities compared to bronchial asthma patients and control population. These should be properly screened and treated.

Pore scale numerical modeling of bacterial growth and decay in Cr VI reactive transport

To understand the mechanism of bacteria growth in a reactive transport model inside a bio barrier for bioremediation, numerical modeling in the pore scale has to be done. An attempt has been made to understand and simulate the growth and decay of indigenous bacteria in a saturated porous medium at pore scale having a known concentration of Cr VI and to predict the enhanced microbial activity for the transformation of Cr VI to Cr III. Darcy scale models previously developed failed to address the hydrodynamics of the system, and contaminant degradation rates were over-predicted. In this study, the pore scale model combines processes such as fluid flow, solute transport with advection & diffusion equations of Cr VI reactive transport. Along with biotransformation of Cr VI and substrate consumption, the model majorly incorporates bacterial growth and decay on a pore scale. The model is divided into three portions, one for each of the processes and operated on different time scales. The mathematical equations are solved using FEM with appropriate initial and boundary conditions. The model developed can predict the velocity and pressure profiles developed fairly well. It can also predict the movement and, consumption of the substrate and biotransformation of Cr (VI) by bacteria along with the changes in its concentration

Boundary-induced abrupt transition in the symmetric exclusion process

We investigate the role of the boundary in the symmetric simple exclusion process with competing nonlocal and local hopping events. With open boundaries, the system undergoes a first order phase transition from a finite density phase to an empty road phase as the nonlocal hopping rate increases. Using a cluster stability analysis, we determine the location of such an abrupt nonequilibrium phase transition, which agrees well with numerical results. Our cluster analysis provides a physical insight into the mechanism behind this transition. We also explain why the transition becomes discontinuous in contrast to the case with periodic boundary conditions, in which the continuous phase transition has been observed.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures (12 eps files); revised as the publised versio