Signatures of a Collective Self: A Study of Select Contemporary Women Artists from South India

This article attempts to reclaim the status of women artists of South India by a process of recovery and inclusion. The aspect of their marginalisation from mainstream art and subsequent disappearance from the annals of Indian art history has been examined. Further, the reasons for this disappearance are investigated in terms of the overarching notion of gender, embedded in social and cultural parameters. The article locates the manner in which these women artists are affected by familial, institutional and social systems and explores the experiences of the women artists in terms of their multiple roles. This can lead to an understanding of the negotiated spaces of private and public domains, which form the paradigms of art practice and are crucial to the expression of women artists. The critique seeks to register the presence of women artists in South India (which is comprised of four states, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala) from the twentieth century and their contributions. It essentially offers insights into the roles played by the artists and their status not only in terms of gender but also culture and identity and examines the transformations achieved by women artists in South India over the years and the position they occupy. Though Indian Art has grown in international stature and has gained a global visibility today, women artists remain underrepresented in many areas such as major curated shows, international expositions, triennales, and wards of international, national and regional prizes and scholarships. At the national level, South India continues to register minimally in the mainstream of modern Indian art. The study observes how the women artists’ existence in the art world has largely been shown as secondary to that of their male counterparts and that their expressions were not considered ‘good enough’ to be included in mainstream art

Differential responses of Duo grass (Lolium × Festuca), a phosphorus hyperaccumulator to high phosphorus and poultry manure treatments

Use of suitable plants to extract and concentrate excess phosphorus (P) from contaminated soil serves as an attractive method of phyto-remediation. Plant species vary considerably in their potential to assimilate different organic and inorganic P substrates. Duo grass (a hybrid of Lolium × Festuca) seedlings were grown in liquid nutrient media supplemented with various concentrations of potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH2PO4) and phytate to study their P-accumulation potential. Plants that received extra P showed significantly greater plant biomass and accumulated more shoot P compared to the plants that were supplied with normal P. Duo was also grown in poultry manure amended soil and liquid media to evaluate their ability to grow and accumulate biomass in poultry manure impacted soils. Thus this grass species may be utilized as a P hyper-accumulator for phyto-extraction of excess P into their biomass from soils. Duo grass can utilize both organic (phytate), as well as, inorganic P from the growth medium as evidenced in the results.Keywords: Duo grass, phosphorus, phosphorus substrates, phytate, phosphorus accumulation, phytoremediationAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(21), pp. 3191-319

Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) and Healthcare Professionals’ Baseline Perceptions of Digital GDM Self-Management Healthcare Technologies:Qualitative Study

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a significant medical complication of pregnancy that requires close monitoring by a multidisciplinary healthcare team. The growing sophistication of mHealth (mobile health) technology could play a significant supporting role for women with GDM and healthcare professionals regarding GDM management.Objective: This study included two phases. The aim of Phase 1 was to explore the perceptions of health professionals (HPs) and women with GDM regarding the use of mHealth for GDM self-management and identifying their needs from these technologies. The aim of Phase 2 was to explore the perception of women with GDM about their experiences with a state-of-the-art app for managing GDM that was offered to them during the COVID-19 lockdown. This phase aimed to understand the impact that COVID-19 has had on women’s perceptions of using technology to manage their GDM. In combining results from both phases, the overall aim was to establish how perceptions of GDM self-management technology have changed due to pandemic restrictions and experience of using such technology.Methods: 26 semi-structured interviews were conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, 16 participants including 7 HPs, 8 women with GDM and 1 postpartum woman with GDM history participated in the interviews. In Phase 2, 10 women with GDM took part in the interviews. NVivo (QSR International) was used to extract qualitative data, which were subjected to thematic analysis.Results: Phase 1 identified three themes from interviews with women with GDM: Fitting with women's lifestyle constraints, technology's design not meeting women’s needs, and optimizing technology's design to meet women's needs. Three themes from interviews with HPs were also derived: Optimizing technology design to improve quality of care, technology to support women’s independence, and limitations in care system and facilities.Analysis of Phase 2 interviews identified two further themes: Enhancing information and functionalities, and optimizing interface design.In both phases, participants emphasized a simple and user-friendly interface design as the predominant positive influence on their use of technology for GDM management.Conclusions: The combined findings underlined similar points. Poor usability, data visualization limitations, lack of personalization, limited information, and lack of communication facilities, were the prime issues of current GDM self-management mHealth technology that need to be addressed.The analysis also revealed how women with GDM should play a vital role in gathering requirements for GDM self-management technology; some needs were identified from in-depth discussion with women with GDM that would be missed without their involvement

A study on epidemiological trends in community acquired pneumonia and associated outcomes in the UK

Background Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common illness in patients admitted to hospital, accounting for nearly 10% of acute medical admissions. Despite widespread use of antimicrobial therapy, morbidity and mortality from this disease remains high. In recent years in the UK, there have been significant developments in both preventative and treatment strategies for this illness. To understand the impact of these changes and direct future management strategies, it is important that the epidemiology of this disease is fully understood. This thesis investigates changes in epidemiology and outcomes in adult patients admitted to UK hospitals with a primary diagnosis of CAP, in recent years and with reference to the herd protection effect of the conjugate Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine. Methods There are 3 study populations presented in this thesis. Data were derived from (a) the British Thoracic Society national CAP audit database, (b) a longitudinal cohort study of adults hospitalised with CAP, within the Greater Nottingham area, and (c) an observational study of adults admitted to four hospitals within the East Midlands area with a diagnosis of CAP. The specific methods used for the identification of study participants, laboratory and statistical analysis are described in detail in ensuing chapters. Results Across the UK, there was a significant reduction in 30-day mortality between 2009 and 2014; this improvement in outcome may be attributable in some part to improved processes of care. Whilst data derived from coding databases have previously been used to report CAP related mortality trends, this thesis has demonstrated significant variation in coding accuracy across UK institutions and that miscoded cases of pneumonia had lower odds of 30 day mortality compared to those individuals with CAP. Consequent to herd effects from national infant vaccination programmes and changes in nasopharyngeal carriage of S pneumoniae, this thesis shows that (a) school holiday periods were associated with increased incidence of pneumococcal CAP in hospitalised adults, (b) older adults at high risk of pneumococcal disease were less likely to be hospitalised with vaccine serotype CAP compared to non-vaccine-serotype pneumococcal CAP, and (c) there was a decrease in the overall burden of vaccine-serotype pneumococcal CAP compared to non-vaccine-serotype pneumococcal CAP. Conclusion Important changes in the epidemiology of adult CAP in the UK over recent years are reported in this thesis. This includes temporal decreases in mortality rates of all cause CAP, as well as a significant ongoing burden of non-vaccine serotype pneumococcal CAP. This data on the current burden of disease and associated outcomes should help inform future CAP management strategies

NASA UAS Traffic Management National Campaign Operations across Six UAS Test Sites

NASA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management research aims to develop policies, procedures, requirements, and other artifacts to inform the implementation of a future system that enables small drones to access the low altitude airspace. In this endeavor, NASA conducted a geographically diverse flight test in conjunction with the FAA's six unmanned aircraft systems Test Sites. A control center at NASA Ames Research Center autonomously managed the airspace for all participants in eight states as they flew operations (both real and simulated). The system allowed for common situational awareness across all stakeholders, kept traffic procedurally separated, offered messages to inform the participants of activity relevant to their operations. Over the 3- hour test, 102 flight operations connected to the central research platform with 17 different vehicle types and 8 distinct software client implementations while seamlessly interacting with simulated traffic

Plasmodium falciparum heat shock protein 110 stabilizes the asparagine repeat-rich parasite proteome during malarial fevers

One-fourth of Plasmodium falciparum proteins have asparagine repeats that increase the propensity for aggregation, especially at elevated temperatures that occur routinely in malaria-infected patients. We report that a Plasmodium Asn repeat-containing protein (PFI1155w) formed aggregates in mammalian cells at febrile temperatures, as did a yeast Asn/Gln-rich protein (Sup35). Co-expression of the cytoplasmic P. falciparum heat shock protein 110 (PfHsp110c) prevented aggregation. Human or yeast orthologs were much less effective. All-Asn and all-Gln versions of Sup35 were protected from aggregation by PfHsp110c, suggesting that this chaperone is not limited to handling runs of Asn. PfHsp110c gene knockout parasites were not viable and conditional knockdown parasites died slowly in the absence of protein-stabilizing ligand. When exposed to brief heat shock, these knockdowns were unable to prevent aggregation of PFI1155w or Sup35 and died rapidly. We conclude that PfHsp110c protects the parasite from harmful effects of its asparagine repeat-rich proteome during febrile episodes

Role of Terlipressin and Albumin for Hepatorenal Syndrome in Liver Transplantation

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162755/2/lt25834.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162755/1/lt25834_am.pd

16S rRNA gene diversity in the salt crust of Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, the World’s Largest Salt Flat

Salar de Uyuni is a vast, high-altitude salt flat in Bolivia with extreme physico-geochemical properties approaching multiple limits of life. Evidence for diverse halophilic bacteria and archaea was found in its surface and near-surface salt crust using 16S amplicon analysis, providing a snapshot of prokaryotic life.Fil: Pecher, Wolf T.. University of Maryland; Estados Unidos. University of Baltimore; ArgentinaFil: Martínez, Fabiana Lilian. University of Maryland; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: DasSarma, Priya. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Guzmán, Daniel. Universidad Mayor de San Simón; BoliviaFil: DasSarma, Shiladitya. University of Maryland; Estados Unido

16S rRNA gene diversity in ancient gray and pink salt from san simón salt mines in Tarija, Bolivia

DNA from 250 million-year-old pink and gray salts from mines in Tarija, Bolivia, subjected to 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and analysis provided evidence for similar but distinct prokaryotic communities. The results constitute a snapshot of archaeal and bacterial microorganisms in these remote and ancient salt deposits.Fil: Pecher, Wolf T.. University of Maryland; Estados Unidos. University of Baltimore; Estados UnidosFil: Martínez, Fabiana Lilian. University of Maryland; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: DasSarma, Priya. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Guzmán, Daniel. Universidad Mayor de San Simon. Centro de Estudios Superiores Universitarios.; BoliviaFil: DasSarma, Shiladitya. University of Maryland; Estados Unido