STUDIES TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHLY SELECTIVE EPIGENETIC SMALL MOLECULE PROBES FOR THE ALKB FAMILY OF NUCLIEIC ACID DEMETHYLASES

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (FOS

Essays in international trade, human capital and income distribution

This dissertation attempts to empirically explain the linkage between increasing trade openness and human capital accumulation, and assess the influence of intra-country income inequality on this linkage, among global economies with differential intensities of factor endowments. Analysis is based on the Hecksher Ohlin Samuelson theory, which suggests that trade could perversely shift factor returns (Stoper Samuelson affect of trade on wages) to enlarge inter-country differences in factor endowments and alter incentives for human capital accumulation. The estimation method employed, in this thesis, is fixed-effects panel data regressions, for the period 1960-1995. Only the third essay has an unbalanced panel due to missing information on income inequality for some years. The first essay poses the question: how does international trade influence schooling enrolment ratios among open economies? We conclude that more trade openness has augmented human capital accumulation, at all levels of education, for skill abundant countries. But for skill-scarce countries, even though trade openness has enhanced human capital accumulation at the secondary and primary levels, it has decreased their tertiary enrolment rates. The second essay proposes and computes an alternative indicator of human capital--\u27Sector-Based Skill Premium\u27 that is a price-analog to the enrolment measure of human capital. Econometric estimation of the hypothesis proposed in the first essay, with this new indicator, suggests that increased trade has indeed decreased human capital acquisition for skill-scarce, labor-abundant economies, while contributing to an increase in human capital in skill-abundant economies. The third essay introduces a new variable--income inequality--to the economic ordering examined in the first essay, by exploring whether egalitarian economies accumulate relatively more human capital with increased international trade openness. Estimation analysis indicates that countries with high inequality in their income distribution will have relatively lower human capital accumulation with increased trade openness because income inequality correlates with access to financial markets that determines individuals\u27 abilities to borrow for investment in skill building. The central conclusion we draw is that trade is a mixed blessing for most semi-skilled, labor-abundant economies

Sperm DNA Integrity and Male Fertility in Farm Animals: A Review

The accurate prediction of male fertility is of major economic importance in the animal breeding industry. However, the results of conventional semen analysis do not always correlate with field fertility outcomes. There is evidence to indicate that mammalian fertilization and subsequent embryo development depend, in part, on the inherent integrity of the sperm DNA. Understanding the complex packaging of mammalian sperm chromatin and assessment of DNA integrity could potentially provide a benchmark in clinical infertility. In the era of assisted reproduction, especially whenin-vitrofertilization or gamete intrafallopian transfer or intracytoplasmic sperm injection is used, assessment of sperm DNA integrity is important because spermatozoa are not subjected to the selection process occurring naturally in the female reproductive tract. Although sperm DNA integrity testing measures a significant biological parameter, its precise role in the infertility evaluation in farm animals remains unclear. In this review, the earlier findings on sperm DNA integrity in relation to male fertility are compiled and analyzed. Furthermore, the causes and consequences of sperm DNA damage are described, together with a review of advances in methods for detection of sperm DNA damage, and the prognostic value of sperm DNA quality on male fertility

Synthesis and characterization of some ruthenium (II) complexes containing triphenylphosphine or triphenylarsine with imidazoles

303-306Reactions of [RuX2(PPh3)3] (X = Cl or Br) and [RuCl3,(PPh3)3] with L (Im, BzIm or 2-MeIm  have been carried out in benzene and compounds of the type [RuX2 (PPh3) (L)3] are obtained. Reactions of [RuCl3(AsPh3)2(MeOH)] and [RuBr3(AsPh3)3] with L (L = Im  and BzIm) in benzene at room temperature of refluxing conditions lead III the formation of [RuX2(AsPh3) (Im)3] and [RuX2 (BzIm)4], respectively. All the compounds have been characterized by analytical data, conductivity measurements, IR, NMR, UV-visible and cyclic voltametric studies

Synthesis of Bis-pyrrolizidine-Fused Dispiro-oxindole Analogues of Curcumin via One-Pot Azomethine Ylide Cycloaddition: Experimental and Computational Approach toward Regio- and Diastereoselection

Curcumin has been transformed to racemic curcuminoids via an azomethine ylide cycloaddition reaction using isatin/ acenaphthoquinone and proline as the reagents. The products were characterized by extensive 1D/2D NMR analysis and single-crystal X-ray crystallographic studies. The enantiomers of one racemic product were separated by HPLC on a Chiralcel OD-H column and were indeed confirmed by the CD spectra of the separated enantiomers