Rural nutrition interventions with indigenous plant foods - a case study of vitamin A deficiency in Malawi

Identification, propagation, and introduction of a nutritionally rich, indigenous plant species in the existing cropping system are presented in this paper as a method of rural nutrition intervention. A case study of Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam., Moringaceae), which is a common tree in Malawi and one of the richest sources of vitamin A and vitamin C compared to the commonly consumed vegetables is presented to address the problem of vitamin A deficiency. After a brief review of the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency and the efforts to reduce its incidence in Malawi, Moringa is suggested as a potential solution to the problem. A framework for designing nutrition intervention with Moringa is described for actual implementation. It is argued that attempts to identify, document, and encourage the utilization of nutrient-rich indigenous plants could be cost-effective, and a sustainable method of improving the nutritional status of local populations

Quantitative Evaluation of Crystallographic Texture in Aluminum Alloy Builds Fabricated by Very High Power Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing

Very high power ultrasonic additive manufacturing (VHPUAM) has shown good bond quality over traditional ultrasonic consolidation processes. However, the stability of microstructure in bulk and interface regions is unknown. Our earlier research showed a large difference in grain growth kinetics between bulk and interface regions. Therefore, we have performed in-situ studies of crystallographic texture evolution using a neutron beam line, before, during, and after heat treatment at 343oC for 2 hours. Shear texture in the as-received condition was found to be stronger with higher vibration amplitudes. We also observed rapid reduction of rolling textures in the initial material and presence of shear textures even after heat treatment.Mechanical Engineerin

Human Capital Decisions and Employee Satisfaction at Selected Hotels in India

Understanding the role of human capital is one of the key considerations in delivering and sustaining competitiveness. Managing employees in the hospitality industry is particularly a challenging task as the industry is considered to be labor intensive. High turnover and increasing employee demands are among the problems that are identified as threats to maintaining a strong competitive position. Successful hotels attempt to retain their best employees in an effort to adapt to changing environments and increased competition. Effective hotel human resource systems can produce positive outcomes, through effective employee retention strategies that focus on work force motivation, attitudes and perception. The positive implementation of these strategies can influence and create employee satisfaction. This study aims to focus on the relationship between the mediating variables of motivation, attitudes, perception and their effect on employee satisfaction. These findings are based upon an extensive survey carried out between April 2009 and June 2009 in the small mountainous state of Uttarakhand, located within the Indian sub-continent. Although the area of study is confined to the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, the authors contend that the findings and implications can be applied to other remote developing tourist destinations in other regions

Precise Modeling of Solar Radiation Pressure for IRNSS Satellite

IRNSS-1A, IRNSS-1B and IRNSS-1C are the first three satellites of Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) launched in 1st July 2013,4th April 2014 and 16th October 2014 respectively. IRNSS will provide regional navigation services independently over the IRNSS service area. For the precise positioning and navigation applications, precise orbit and clock information of the IRNSS satellites are essential. For High altitude satellites like IRNSS, Solar Radiation Pressure (SRP) force is the second largest perturbation force acting on the satellites after the gravitational attraction from Earth, Sun and Moon. It is the largest error source in the modelling of orbital dynamics of IRNSS, and hence its precise modelling is essential for accurate orbit determination. In this paper different approaches were studied to develop a highly precise solar radiation pressure model for IRNSS satellites using IRNSS-1A and IRNSS-1B observation data. Since IRNSS satellites shape, optical properties, physical properties as well as the attitude information are different from other Indian Communication satellites, a novel approach has been adopted here for precise modelling of SRP. The force due to SRP has been computed analytically for each of the spacecraft surfaces in the satellite body fixed frame which is further resolved in all required directions to compute the net force. To evaluate the performance of the SRP model, the orbit accuracy is derived from 1-day orbit overlaps at day boundaries of 2-day solutions. As a result, an orbit estimation accuracy of 25 meters has been observed by the model alone, while the estimation error is observed as 2.5m.Further beside the model, 3 constant co-efficient has been estimated in the three particular directions (namely DYB) which were following a right handed system. Again the model performance with estimated co-efficient has been analysed and the orbit accuracy is derived from the overlap test. As a result, an orbit estimation accuracy of 10 m has been observed, while the estimation error is about 1m. Keywords: IRNSS, Navigation, Solar Radiation Pressure, orbit accurac

Interplay of nuclear receptors (ER, PR, and GR) and their steroid hormones in MCF-7 cells

Steroid hormones and their nuclear receptors play a major role in the development and progression of breast cancer. MCF-7 cells are triple-positive breast cancer cells expressing estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and glucocorticoid receptor (GR). However, interaction and their role in expression pattern of activator protein (AP-1) transcription factors (TFs) are not completely understood. Hence, in our study, MCF-7 cells were used as an in vitro model system to study the interplay between the receptors and hormones. MCF-7 cells were treated with estradiol-17β (E2), progesterone (P4), and dexamethasone (Dex), alone or in combination, to study the proliferation of cells and expression of AP-1 genes. MTT assay results show that E2 or P4 induced the cell proliferation by more than 35 %, and Dex decreased the proliferation by 26 %. E2 and P4 are found to increase ERα by more than twofold and c-Jun, c-Fos, and Fra-1 AP-1 TFs by more than 1.7-fold, while Dex shows opposite effect of E2- or P4-induced effect as well as effect on the expression of nuclear receptors and AP-1 factors. E2 antagonist Fulvestrant (ICI 182,780) found to reduce proliferation and E2-induced expression of AP1-TFs, while P4 or Dex antagonist Mifepristone (RU486) is found to block GR-mediated expression of NRs and AP-1 mRNAs. Results suggest that E2 and P4 act synergistically, and Dex acts as an antagonist of E2 and P4

Cadmium induces oxidative stress and apoptosis in lung epithelial cells

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the well-known highly toxic environmental and industrial pollutants. Cd first accumulates in the nucleus and later interacts with zinc finger proteins of antiapoptotic genes and inhibit the binding of transcriptional factors and transcription. However, the role of Cd in oxidative stress and apoptosis is less understood. Hence, the present study was undertaken to unveil the mechanism of action. A549 cells were treated with or without Cd and cell viability was measured by MTT assay. Treatment of cells with Cd shows reduced viability in a dose-dependent manner with IC50 of 45 μM concentration. Cd significantly induces the reactive oxygen species (ROS), lipid peroxidation followed by membrane damage with the leakage of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Cells with continuous exposure of Cd deplete the antioxidant super oxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) enzymes. Further, analysis of the expression of genes involved in apoptosis show that both the extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways were involved. Death receptor marker tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), executor caspase-8 and pro-apoptotic gene (Bax) were induced, while antiapoptotic gene (Bcl-2) was decreased in Cd-treated cells. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis further confirms the induction of apoptosis in Cd-treated A549 cells

Implications of a Massless Neutralino for Neutrino Physics

We consider the phenomenological implications of a soft SUSY breaking term BN at the TeV scale (here B is the U(1)_Y gaugino and N is the right-handed neutrino field). In models with a massless (or nearly massless) neutralino, such a term will give rise through the see-saw mechanism to new contributions to the mass matrix of the light neutrinos. We treat the massless neutralino as an (almost) sterile neutrino and find that its mass depends on the square of the soft SUSY breaking scale, with interesting consequences for neutrino physics. We also show that, although it requires fine-tuning, a massless neutralino in the MSSM or NMSSM is not experimentally excluded. The implications of this scenario for neutrino physics are discussed.Comment: 14 pages, latex, no figure

Inverse seesaw and dark matter in models with exotic lepton triplets

We show that models with exotic leptons transforming as E ~ (1,3,-1) under the standard model gauge symmetry are well suited for generating neutrino mass via a radiative inverse seesaw. This approach realizes natural neutrino masses and allows multiple new states to appear at the TeV scale. The exotic leptons are therefore good candidates for new physics that can be probed at the LHC. Furthermore, remnant low-energy symmetries ensure a stable dark matter candidate, providing a link between dark matter and the origins of neutrino mass.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures (revtex4.1, two-columns

The Z-Z' Mass Hierarchy in a Supersymmetric Model with a Secluded U(1)'-Breaking Sector

We consider the Z'/Z mass hierarchy in a supersymmetric model in which the U(1)' is broken in a secluded sector coupled to the ordinary sector only by gauge and possibly soft terms. A large mass hierarchy can be achieved while maintaining the normal sparticle spectra if there is a direction in which the tree level potential becomes flat when a particular Yukawa coupling vanishes. We describe the conditions needed for the desired breaking pattern, to avoid unwanted global symmetries, and for an acceptable effective mu parameter. The electroweak breaking is dominated by A terms rather than scalar masses, leading to tan beta ~ 1. The spectrum of the symmetry breaking sector is displayed. There is significant mixing between the MSSM particles and new standard model singlets, for both the Higgs scalars and the neutralinos. A larger Yukawa coupling for the effective mu parameter is allowed than in the NMSSM because of the U(1)' contribution to the running from a high scale. The upper bound on the tree-level mass of the lightest CP even Higgs doublet mass is about c x 174 GeV, where c is of order unity, but the actual mass eigenvalues are generally smaller because of singlet mixing.Comment: Latex, 12 Tables, 22 page

The interplay of type I and type II interferons in murine autoimmune cholangitis as a basis for sex-biased autoimmunity

We have reported on a murine model of autoimmune cholangitis, generated by altering the AU-rich element (ARE) by deletion of the interferon gamma (IFN-γ) 3\u27 untranslated region (coined ARE-Del−/−), that has striking similarities to human primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) with female predominance. Previously, we suggested that the sex bias of autoimmune cholangitis was secondary to intense and sustained type I and II IFN signaling. Based on this thesis, and to define the mechanisms that lead to portal inflammation, we specifically addressed the hypothesis that type I IFNs are the driver of this disease. To accomplish these goals, we crossed ARE-Del−/− mice with IFN type I receptor alpha chain (Ifnar1) knockout mice. We report herein that loss of type I IFN receptor signaling in the double construct of ARE-Del−/− Ifnar1−/− mice dramatically reduces liver pathology and abrogated sex bias. More importantly, female ARE-Del−/− mice have an increased number of germinal center (GC) B cells as well as abnormal follicular formation, sites which have been implicated in loss of tolerance. Deletion of type I IFN signaling in ARE-Del−/− Ifnar1−/− mice corrects these GC abnormalities, including abnormal follicular structure. Conclusion: Our data implicate type I IFN signaling as a necessary component of the sex bias of this murine model of autoimmune cholangitis. Importantly these data suggest that drugs that target the type I IFN signaling pathway would have potential benefit in the earlier stages of PBC. (Hepatology 2018;67:1408-1419)