Rights of Women: A Historical Perspective

Since Mary Wollstonecraft’s seminal work - A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), there has been almost centuries of the evolution of the rights of women. The world has witnessed social, economic and legislative reforms around these rights. They are asserting their right to shape their life from within and not to have it shaped for them. Fortunately, the philosophy that a woman being equal is well recognized widely understood and also practically accepted. Still, there exists lack of knowledge how women gained the existing rights. Large number of concerns about the women’s evolving personality and incidental claims are being countered at various levels. More participation of women themselves along with various activists is bringing transformation in this area. Some of the issues have indeed been settled, others not yet. The historical development of their rights is the main focus of this work. The core of the paper may be summed up in the words of Vance Thomson in Woman (1917) – “Whether you like it or not Woman is the Paladin, enormous and strong, of the ideals of tomorrow. She is the future; she is the future home; she is the future state – for she is in the majority both in numbers and in common sense and she has withal a kind of civic integrity, which may be unscrupulous, but which makes nevertheless for victory.

The Ice Cracks for Frozen Flow: Comprehending the Irony of Development through Metaphor of Water

Water, one of the five elements, runs through the course of evolution as life line. Conceived as the source of origin, sustenance and annihilation, it is believed to be the crux of existence. Whether scientific or mythical, it serves as the foundation of cyclical nature of life that begins with Ice Age and ends in great Deluge. Water, being chiefly conceived as the life giving fluid, is mainly associated with the flow that designates existence. But interestingly, the flow of water does not remain restricted to single form or shape. Through its adaptability, malleability and transforming flamboyance, it narrates the beauty, splendour, exoticism, functionality, and dynamism inherent in nature. In literary and cultural discourses water emerges as a chief motif to communicate concrete as well as abstract realities of life. Envisaged in myriad forms such as haze, mist, fog, frost, ice, vapour, and so on it appears in various semblances and disguise to whisper some message in human ears. Its dripping sound echoes the essence of being. Creating a wondrous spectrum of variability, it extends from tiny dew drops to vast oceans. In fact, the metaphor of water serves one of the foundational artistic imagery of visualising life. Present paper studies how water is projected in our literary and cultural discourses to comprehend various experiential truths of human civilisation. It probes into the mystery of incredulous development of humankind that amazes with its incredible achievements. Human civilisation may boast of its consistent progress over the years, but literary delineations in the metaphorical renderings of water question how far do we agree with the progressive march of humankind. What are the ironies that constitute the dilemma of human rationality and the development of a civilisation across cultures?  

Liability of Internet Service Providers Across Various Countries: An Overview

The role of I.S.P. or Intermediary is very important for effective utilization of information technology. The liability of Intermediary or I.S.P. has gain immense importance at international level. Various countries have defined the liability of I.S.P. either in the form of copyright infringement or for the infringement of information technology. Australia was the first country to enact the legislation relating to the liability aspect of I.S.P. in the form of Copyright Act, 1968 making I.S.P. liable to disable the access to online services hosted outside Australia. Some safe harbors were also provided for I.S.P. as part of the Australia - United States Free Trade Agreement. The US provides for the liability of ISP in the form of Communications Decency Act, 1996, Digital Millennium Copyright Act,1998. Title II of the D.M.C.A. specifically deals with the issue of I.S.P. liability and also provides for the penalties for unauthorized access to a copyright work. As regarding the legislations of Canada, it does not specifically defines the liability of I.S.P., instead it provides safe harbor for those ISP’s providing any means for Internet access. I.S.P.’s are also protected for copyright infringement in Canada. In Singapore the liability of I.S.P. is regulated by the Internet class license and Internet code of Practice which requires the I.S.P. to abide by the conditions of license. I.S.P.’s are also restricted to make public access of those websites which contain offensive content harmful to national interest. Japan’s Copyright Act, 1970, The Provider Liability Limitation Law 2002 protects the I.S.P. against any kind of liability for Copyright infringement. UK enacted two legislations in form of Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 Digital Economy Act 2010 which imposes the obligations on ISP to notify the infringement to its subscribers, also liable to take technical measures to terminate the Internet services after reporting of infringement. The countries also make the provisions for the penalties for offences relating to the infringement of copyright or unauthorized access of information by various I.S.P.’s or Intermediaries. The quantum of punishment is differed in every country according to the nature of offence

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF HERBAL OIL-BASED ITRACONAZOLE CREAM FOR FUNGAL INFECTION

Objective: The current study was to formulate and to evaluate itraconazole herbal oil-based cream for fungal infection. Methods: Six herbal oils were used for the formulation of itraconazole creams, namely, mustard oil (MO), olive oil (OO), wheat germ oil (WGO), jojoba oil (JO), tea tree oil (TTO), and combined oil (CO). Creams were formulated by the trituration method. Each herbal oils containing three different formulations of different concentrations of oils. Results: All the prepared formulation was evaluated successfully. Out of all the formulations from each herbal oils the best two formulations were finalized, that is, MO2 and CO2 which show the greater in vitro diffusion rate among all. Formulation MO2 shows 55.45±0.10% and CO2 showed 59.43±1.18% within 480 min, respectively. Optimized formulations were also compared with the marketed formulation, which results in formulation CO2 as the best formulation among all. Conclusion: It can be concluded that herbal oil-based cream proved better alternate than oral preparation and improve patient compliance, ease of administration, local bioavailability, and better proves for fungal infected patients

Detection of spontaneous hemoperitoneum in a pregnancy complicated with endometriosis during caesarean section - a case report

Endometriosis is defined as the presence of endometrial glands and stroma outside the uterus. During pregnancy endometriosis and its related pain symptoms improve due to various metabolic, hormonal, immune and angiogenesis changes that occur in pregnancy. Spontaneous hemoperitoneum in pregnancy (SHiP) is a rare but serious pregnancy complication, which is associated with high rates of maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality. Endometriosis may be a potential risk factor for SHiP. Preformation of IVF on women with endometriosis may be a potential risk factor for SHiP. In gravid females with a history of endometriosis, severe abdominal pain, and a reduction of haemoglobin, physicians should always suspect SHiP because it is a life-threatening condition for both the mother and the baby. We are reporting a case of a primigravida with term gestation, taken up for emergency caesarean section in view of non-reassuring foetal heart rate. Intraoperatively there was evidence of hemoperitoneum and multiple endometriotic lesions on the posterior surface of uterus and Pouch of Douglas, Bilateral ovaries were adherent to the endometriotic growth on the posterior surface of uterus. Postoperatively, patient was stable and was discharged on postoperative day 4

Proteomic insights into the biology of Clinostomum piscidium from a fish, Colisa fasciatus in India using computational tools

Clinostomum is a fish-borne pathogen,digenetic trematode with worldwide distribution. Despite its zoonootic significance, the molecules involved in the host-parasite interaction remains unknown. The present study deals with the proteome profile of the rDNA of Clinostomum piscidium using in silico workflow.The physicochemical properties, mass spectrometry ,atomic composition,estimated half-life in different hosts ,Grand average of hydropathy (GRAVY),extinction coefficient and instability index of the rDNA was studied.We identified hypothetical proteins(polar in nature) that showed similarities with proteins of Trichellina pseudospiralis and Melampsora laricipopulina.The functionality of these proteins revealed their role in intracellular signalling as a substrate for O - linked N - acetylglucosaminetransferases and death transcription factor(DIDO-1). This is the first report of our findings that aims to provide a better understanding of the mechanism by which this digenetic trematode adapts to extreme environments. It is expected that this study will lead to new insights into drug designing strategies and disease control

Weighted gene co-expression network analysis of nitrogen (N)-responsive genes and the putative role of G-quadruplexes in N use efficiency (NUE) in rice

Rice is an important target to improve crop nitrogen (N) use efficiency (NUE), and the identification and shortlisting of the candidate genes are still in progress. We analyzed data from 16 published N-responsive transcriptomes/microarrays to identify, eight datasets that contained the maximum number of 3020 common genes, referred to as N-responsive genes. These include different classes of transcription factors, transporters, miRNA targets, kinases and events of post-translational modifications. A Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) with all the 3020 N-responsive genes revealed 15 co-expression modules and their annotated biological roles. Protein-protein interaction network analysis of the main module revealed the hub genes and their functional annotation revealed their involvement in the ubiquitin process. Further, the occurrences of G-quadruplex sequences were examined, which are known to play important roles in epigenetic regulation but are hitherto unknown in N-response/NUE. Out of the 3020 N-responsive genes studied, 2298 contained G-quadruplex sequences. We compared these N-responsive genes containing G-quadruplex sequences with the 3601 genes we previously identified as NUE-related (for being both N-responsive and yield-associated). This analysis revealed 389 (17%) NUE-related genes containing G-quadruplex sequences. These genes may be involved in the epigenetic regulation of NUE, while the rest of the 83% (1811) genes may regulate NUE through genetic mechanisms and/or other epigenetic means besides G-quadruplexes. A few potentially important genes/processes identified as associated with NUE were experimentally validated in a pair of rice genotypes contrasting for NUE. The results from the WGCNA and G4 sequence analysis of N-responsive genes helped identify and shortlist six genes as candidates to improve NUE. Further, the hitherto unavailable segregation of genetic and epigenetic gene targets could aid in informed interventions through genetic and epigenetic means of crop improvement