924 research outputs found
Living by the Sword: The Free Exercise of Religion and the Sikh Struggle for the Right to Carry a Kirpan
Sikhism is a 500 year old religion with a growing presence in the United States. However, one of the articles of faith required for Sikhs, a kirpan (a ceremonial sword), conflicts with the norms of American life for these often misunderstood people. This paper gives a brief primer on Sikhism and discusses some of the day-to-day problems and recent issues facing kirpan-carrying Sikhs in North America. Upon reviewing the current state of free exercise jurisprudence as applied to the kirpan, I outline several suggestions for the acceptance and accommodation of kirpans
QGRS Mapper: a web-based server for predicting G-quadruplexes in nucleotide sequences
The quadruplex structures formed by guanine-rich nucleic acid sequences have received significant attention recently because of growing evidence for their role in important biological processes and as therapeutic targets. G-quadruplex DNA has been suggested to regulate DNA replication and may control cellular proliferation. Sequences capable of forming G-quadruplexes in the RNA have been shown to play significant roles in regulation of polyadenylation and splicing events in mammalian transcripts. Whether quadruplex structure directly plays a role in regulating RNA processing requires investigation. Computational approaches to study G-quadruplexes allow detailed analysis of mammalian genomes. There are no known easily accessible user-friendly tools that can compute G-quadruplexes in the nucleotide sequences. We have developed a web-based server, QGRS Mapper, that predicts quadruplex forming G-rich sequences (QGRS) in nucleotide sequences. It is a user-friendly application that provides many options for defining and studying G-quadruplexes. It performs analysis of the user provided genomic sequences, e.g. promoter and telomeric regions, as well as RNA sequences. It is also useful for predicting G-quadruplex structures in oligonucleotides. The program provides options to search and retrieve desired gene/nucleotide sequence entries from NCBI databases for mapping G-quadruplexes in the context of RNA processing sites. This feature is very useful for investigating the functional relevance of G-quadruplex structure, in particular its role in regulating the gene expression by alternative processing. In addition to providing data on composition and locations of QGRS relative to the processing sites in the pre-mRNA sequence, QGRS Mapper features interactive graphic representation of the data. The user can also use the graphics module to visualize QGRS distribution patterns among all the alternative RNA products of a gene simultaneously on a single screen. QGRS Mapper can be accessed at
Protective Effect of Bombyx mori L Cocoon (Abresham) and its Formulations against Isoproterenol-Induced Cardiac Damage
Purpose: To investigate the potential activity of Bombyx mori and its formulations against isoproterenolĀ (ISO) induced cardiotoxicity.Methods: Wistar rats were orally pretreated with the ethanol extract of Bombyx mori cocoons in twoĀ doses (250 and 500 mg/kg) for 30 days; rats were similarly pretreated with its polyherbal formulationsĀ incorporating Khamira Abresham sada (KAS) and Khamira Abresham Hakim Arshadwala (KAHAW)Ā (800 mg/kg), standard drug metoprolol (10 mg/kg) and normal saline for 30 days. Cardiotoxicity wasĀ induced by administration of isoproterenol (ISO, 85 mg/kg, subcutaneous) given twice on days 29 andĀ 30 in all six pre-treated groups (n = 6) except the normal control. Cardiotoxicity was assessed byĀ morphological and biochemical evaluation and further confirmed by histopathological studies.Results: Pretreatment with Bombyx mori (500 mg/kg), KAHAW and KAS significantly decreased (p <Ā 0.01) the heart weight:body weight (HW:BW) ratio; significantly decreases the elevated activities of theĀ cardiac marker enzymes, namely, asparate transaminase (AST) (p < 0.01), alanine transaminase (ALT)Ā (p < 0.01), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (p < 0.01) ,creatinine kinase (CK-MB) (p < 0.01) andĀ thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) (p < 0.01) similar to the standard drug metoprolol (p <Ā 0.01) in ISO-injected rats. Pre-treatment of rats with Bombyx mori (500 mg/kg), KAS, KAHAW andĀ metoprolol challenged with ISO also showed absence of troponin. Pretreatment with B. mori (500Ā mg/kg), KAHAW and KAS significantly increased the activities of Superoxide dismutase (SOD) (p <Ā 0.01), Tissue glutathione (GSH) (p < 0.01) and catalase (p < 0.01) similar to the standard drugĀ metoprolol (p < 0.01).Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that Bombyx mori as well as its polyherbal formulationsĀ exerts potent cardioprotection against isoproterenol-induced cardiotoxicity. This effect is comparableĀ with that of metoprolol.Keywords: Bombyx mori, Myocardial necrosis, Oxidative stress, Cardiotoxicity, Khamira Abresham,Ā Metoprolol, Isoprotereno
Clinico-morphological patterns of breast cancer including family history in a New Delhi hospital, India-A cross-sectional study
BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the second most common malignancy among women, next to cervix cancer. Understanding its pathogenesis, morphological features and various risk-factors, including family history holds a great promise for the treatment, early detection and prevention of this cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In an attempt to evaluate the clinico-morphological patterns of breast cancer patients, including their family history of breast and/or other cancers, a detailed analysis of 569 breast cancer cases diagnosed during the years 1989ā2003 was carried out. Mean and standard deviation and Odds ratios along with 95% confidence intervals were estimated. Ļ(2)/Fisher's exact test were employed to test for proportions. RESULTS: Mean age of the patient at presentation was 47.8 years, ranging from 13ā82 years. Among the various histo-morphological types, Infiltrating duct carcinoma (IDC) was found to be commonest type i.e. in 502 cases (88.2%), followed by infiltrating lobular carcinoma (ILC) in 21 cases (3.7%) and other types forming 9(1%). Out of 369 cases where TNM staging was available, stage IIIB (35.2%) was the commonest. Lymph node positivity was observed in 296 cases (80.2%). Out of 226 cases evaluated for presence of family history, 47 cases (20.7%) revealed positive family history of cancer, among which breast or ovarian cancer were the commonest type (72.0%). Patients below 45 years of age had more frequent occurrence of family history as compared to above 45 years. Amongst familial cases, Infiltrating duct carcinoma was the commonest form accounting for 68.8% cases while ILC was found to be in a higher proportion (12.5%) as compared to non- familial cases (5.4%). CONCLUSION: Among the various determining factors for development of breast cancer and for its early detection, family history of cancer forms one of the major risk factor. It is important to take an appropriate history for eliciting information pertaining to occurrence of cancers amongst the patients' relatives there by identifying the high risk group. Educating the population about the risk factors would be helpful in early detection of breast cancer
Xanthogranulomatous hypophysitis: a rare and often mistaken pituitary lesion.
Xanthogranulomatous hypophysitis (XGH) is a very rare form of pituitary hypophysitis that may present both clinically and radiologically as a neoplastic lesion. It may either be primary with an autoimmune aetiology and can occur in isolation or as a part of autoimmune systemic disease or secondary as a reactive degenerative response to an epithelial lesion (e.g. craniopharyngioma (CP), Rathke's cleft cyst, germinoma and pituitary adenomas) or as a part of a multiorgan systemic involvement such as tuberculosis, sarcoidosis or granulomatosis. It may also present with a variation of symptoms in children and adults. Our case series compares the paediatric and adult presentations of XGH and the differential diagnoses considered in one child and two adult patients, highlighting the wide spectrum of this condition. Endocrine investigations suggested panhypopituitarism in all three patients and imaging revealed a suprasellar mass compressing the optic chiasm suggestive of CP or Rathke's cleft cyst in one patient and non-functioning pituitary macroadenoma in two patients. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated mixed signal intensities on T1- and T2-weighted sequences. Following endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery, histological analysis revealed necrotic material with a xanthogranulomatous reaction confirming XGH in two patients and a necrobiotic granulomatous chronic inflammatory infiltrate with neutrophils in one patient, which is not typical of current descriptions of this disorder. This case series describes the wide spectrum of XGH disease that is yet to be defined. Mixed signal intensities on T1- and T2-weighted MRI sequences may indicate XGH and diagnosis is confirmed by histology. Histological variation may indicate an underlying systemic process.
LEARNING POINTS: XGH is a rare form of pituitary hypophysitis with a wide clinical and histological spectrum and can mimic a neoplastic lesion.XGH primarily presents with growth arrest in children and pubertal arrest in adolescents. In adults, the presentation may vary.A combination of hypopituitarism and mixed signal intensity lesion on MRI is suggestive of XGH and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of sellar lesions.Radical surgery is the treatment of choice and carries an excellent prognosis with no recurrence
On the Computational Complexity of Vertex Integrity and Component Order Connectivity
The Weighted Vertex Integrity (wVI) problem takes as input an -vertex
graph , a weight function , and an integer . The
task is to decide if there exists a set such that the weight
of plus the weight of a heaviest component of is at most . Among
other results, we prove that:
(1) wVI is NP-complete on co-comparability graphs, even if each vertex has
weight ;
(2) wVI can be solved in time;
(3) wVI admits a kernel with at most vertices.
Result (1) refutes a conjecture by Ray and Deogun and answers an open
question by Ray et al. It also complements a result by Kratsch et al., stating
that the unweighted version of the problem can be solved in polynomial time on
co-comparability graphs of bounded dimension, provided that an intersection
model of the input graph is given as part of the input.
An instance of the Weighted Component Order Connectivity (wCOC) problem
consists of an -vertex graph , a weight function ,
and two integers and , and the task is to decide if there exists a set
such that the weight of is at most and the weight of
a heaviest component of is at most . In some sense, the wCOC problem
can be seen as a refined version of the wVI problem. We prove, among other
results, that:
(4) wCOC can be solved in time on interval graphs,
while the unweighted version can be solved in time on this graph
class;
(5) wCOC is W[1]-hard on split graphs when parameterized by or by ;
(6) wCOC can be solved in time;
(7) wCOC admits a kernel with at most vertices.
We also show that result (6) is essentially tight by proving that wCOC cannot
be solved in time, unless the ETH fails.Comment: A preliminary version of this paper already appeared in the
conference proceedings of ISAAC 201
GRSDB2 and GRS_UTRdb: databases of quadruplex forming G-rich sequences in pre-mRNAs and mRNAs
G-quadruplex motifs in the RNA play significant roles in key cellular processes and human disease. While sequences capable of forming G-quadruplexes in the pre-mRNA are involved in regulation of polyadenylation and splicing events in mammalian transcripts, the G-quadruplex motifs in the UTRs may help regulate mRNA expression. GRSDB2 is a second-generation database containing information on the composition and distribution of putative Quadruplex-forming G-Rich Sequences (QGRS) mapped in ā¼29 000 eukaryotic pre-mRNA sequences, many of which are alternatively processed. The data stored in the GRSDB2 is based on computational analysis of NCBI Entrez Gene entries with the help of an improved version of the QGRS Mapper program. The database allows complex queries with a wide variety of parameters, including Gene Ontology terms. The data is displayed in a variety of formats with several additional computational capabilities. We have also developed a new database, GRS_UTRdb, containing information on the composition and distribution patterns of putative QGRS in the 5ā²- and 3ā²-UTRs of eukaryotic mRNA sequences. The goal of these experiments has been to build freely accessible resources for exploring the role of G-quadruplex structure in regulation of gene expression at post-transcriptional level. The databases can be accessed at the G-Quadruplex Resource Site at: http://bioinformatics.ramapo.edu/GQRS/
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