Interview with Rev. Fr. Abbot Philip Anderson: We Must All Build Bridges

This is an excerpt of a crucial dialogue engaged in by a Hindu and an Orthodox Roman Catholic. The excerpt touches on evil and the supernatural

America’s connection to India: Freud, Jones & Bose.

This is a rudimentary paper written to claim my connection that the American and the erstwhile Indian modes of psychoanalysis are more authentic modes vis-à-vis the French mode. Some of the claims I make in this paper have been already published in Prabuddha Bharata and some are forthcoming. For instance, I have written on Ritalin which is pertinent to this discussion yet I have avoided mentioning this since my contention regarding Ritalin is pending publication in Prabuddha Bharata. Addition : 2020, my comments on the efficacy of Ritalin have been published last year in Prabuddha Bharata

Profound Vasoplegia after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Vasoplegic shock after cardiac surgery is characterized by a high cardiac output, low systemic vascular resistance, refractory hypotension, and ongoing need for vasopressors. In this case, management considerations are discussed, including vasoactive medications and other adjuncts to sustain a satisfactory mean arterial pressure and improve outcomes

Myocardial Protection in High-Risk Cardiopulmonary Bypass Support

The development of cardioplegia has facilitated complex cardiac surgery and allowed high-risk patients to safely tolerate life-saving procedures. By following the principles of electromechanical arrest, inducing hypothermia, and using adjunctive agents to help mitigate the effects of hypothermia and ischemia reperfusion injury, cardioplegia can be safely induced with various commercially available compositions, which can be delivered by several different surgical techniques. Although many studies have compared these methods, there is little consensus on whether any one method is superior to another. Just as a surgeon may need to modify technique according to individual patient factors, so too must a surgeon be flexible and be prepared to use different cardioplegia strategies according to the clinical circumstances. Increasing evidence shows the advantage of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) over percutaneous interventions in patients with low ejection fractions. Thus, optimal myocardial protection will continue to be necessary in this higher-risk cohort. Moreover, while patients in cardiogenic shock rarely present for CABG, the high mortality in this cohort demonstrates the need for ongoing efforts to improve myocardial protection. Lastly, there may be circumstances in which alternative approaches involving fibrillatory arrest or keeping the heart beating are more effective than conventional cardioplegia. These techniques should all be part of the surgeon’s armamentarium, enabling the surgeon to tailor the operation to the individual patient

Evaluation of rapeseed-mustard cultivars under late sown condition in coastal ecosystem of West Bengal

In our present report, we evaluated seven rapeseed mustard cultivars at coastal saline zone of West Bengal, India under rice-mustard sequence in a triplicated randomized block design for 14 traits to study their performance under late sown (2nd December) condition. The cultivars were sown at 30 cm × 10 cm spacing during winter of 2013?14 and 2014?15. The soil was clay in texture and had the following key properties for the 0?30 cm layer: pH 5.84, electrical conductivity (EC) 1.55 dS/m, available nitrogen (N) 155.24 kg/ha, available phosphorus (P) 105.76 kg/ha, available potassium (K) 365.86 kg/ha and available B 2.63 kg/ha. Among the seven cultivars, Kranti produced significantly (p?0.05) higher seed yield (1.33 t/ha) closely followed by the hybrids PAC-409 (1.23 t/ha) and Pusa Bold (1.21 t/ha). Seed yield showed significant (p?0.05) positive correlation with all the independent variables (plant height, R2=0.88; dry matter, R2=0.42; days to 50 % flowering, R2=0.27; number of siliqua/plant, R2=0.38; seeds/siliqua, R2=0.48; except number of fertile plants/m2, R2=-0.06; number of secondary branches/plant, R2=-0.97 and length of siliqua, R2=-0.07). However, number of secondary branches/plant had significant (p?0.05) and negative correlation with seed yield of mustard (R2=-0.97). Plant height revealed the highest degree of correlation (R2=0.88) with seed yield followed by siliqua per main branch (R2=0.77), days to harvest (R2=0.75) and 1000-seed weight (R2=0.52). The results indicated that selection of suitable rapeseed mustard cultivars based on these traits would be more effective in improving seed yield in mustard

Exosomal RNA: Interplay and Therapeutic Potential

Exosomal RNA has emerged as a crucial mediator of intercellular communication, enabling the transfer of genetic information between cells. This intricate signaling system holds great promise for unraveling complex cellular processes and advancing therapeutic applications. This review provides an in-depth examination of the current state of knowledge regarding exosomal RNA, emphasizing its role in intercellular signaling and its relevance to various physiological and pathological conditions. Furthermore, we explore the potential therapeutic applications that leverage exosomal RNA, opening new avenues for innovative treatments across diverse medical domains. The nuanced interplay of exosomal RNA presents a fertile ground for further investigation and application, promising advancements in both fundamental biology and clinical interventions

TLR4 is one of the receptors for Chikungunya virus envelope protein E2 and regulates virus induced pro-inflammatory responses in host macrophages

Toll like receptor 4 (TLR4), a pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) receptor, is known to exert inflammation in various cases of microbial infection, cancer and autoimmune disorders. However, any such involvement of TLR4 in Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection is yet to be explored. Accordingly, the role of TLR4 was investigated towards CHIKV infection and modulation of host immune responses in the current study using mice macrophage cell line RAW264.7, primary macrophage cells of different origins and in vivo mice model. The findings suggest that TLR4 inhibition using TAK-242 (a specific pharmacological inhibitor) reduces viral copy number as well as reduces the CHIKV-E2 protein level significantly using p38 and JNK-MAPK pathways. Moreover, this led to reduced expression of macrophage activation markers like CD14, CD86, MHC-II and pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF, IL-6, MCP-1) significantly in both the mouse primary macrophages and RAW264.7 cell line, in vitro. Additionally, TAK-242-directed TLR4 inhibition demonstrated a significant reduction of percent E2-positive cells, viral titre and TNF expression in hPBMC-derived macrophages, in vitro. These observations were further validated in TLR4-knockout (KO) RAW cells. Furthermore, the interaction between CHIKV-E2 and TLR4 was demonstrated by immuno-precipitation studies, in vitro and supported by molecular docking analysis, in silico. TLR4-dependent viral entry was further validated by an anti-TLR4 antibody-mediated blocking experiment. It was noticed that TLR4 is necessary for the early events of viral infection, especially during the attachment and entry stages. Interestingly, it was also observed that TLR4 is not involved in the post-entry stages of CHIKV infection in host macrophages. The administration of TAK-242 decreased CHIKV infection significantly by reducing disease manifestations, improving survivability (around 75%) and reducing inflammation in mice model. Collectively, for the first time, this study reports TLR4 as one of the novel receptors to facilitate the attachment and entry of CHIKV in host macrophages, the TLR4-CHIKV-E2 interactions are essential for efficient viral entry and modulation of infection-induced pro-inflammatory responses in host macrophages, which might have translational implication for designing future therapeutics to regulate the CHIKV infection