Livelihood, Exclusion and Opportunity: Socioeconomic Welfare among Gender and Sexuality Non-normative People in India

In 2014, its 67th year as a sovereign country with a population of 1.21 billion (Government of India 2011a), India is the second most populous country in the world, the most populous democracy and has the longest written constitution among all sovereign countries. Its gross domestic product (GDP) is ranked tenth in the world (out of 184 countries) when measured through current prices (2014) and third on the basis of purchasing power parity (IMF 2014). In 1990, just before India embarked on an unprecedented economic liberalisation, the ranking by current prices was eleventh but by purchasing power parity it was ninth, indicating a significant jump forward in a 25-year period. Commensurate with the GDP growth (from around 5.5 per cent in the early 1990s to a peak of 10.3 per cent in 2010) (World Bank 2014), in spite of differences in poverty measurement between the Government of India, World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, it is widely believed that there was significant reduction in poverty and that the government’s emphasis on economic growth was responsible for this (Aiyar 2011). Against this background, this case study explores the socioeconomic experiences of gender and sexuality minority peoples in India, especially in respect of ways in which sexual and gender ‘difference’ may be correlated to economic hardship and restricted opportunities for livelihood in the context of Indian socioeconomic ‘modernity’. Growth of economic opportunity through neoliberal models of economic expansion is typically achieved via the extension of economic opportunity for some people amidst the endurance of ongoing socioeconomic precarity for most others. In this report we consider these issues in the context of livelihood, poverty, economic opportunity and restraint in the lives of gender and sexuality non-conforming people in India, with a specific focus on the eastern Indian states of Odisha and Manipur. These sites were chosen because in the last five years they have been among the states that have witnessed a number of community, government, non-governmental organisation and donor-backed initiatives undertaken on economic inclusion for people with non-normative genders and sexualities.UK Department for International Developmen

Group-level Emotion Recognition using Transfer Learning from Face Identification

In this paper, we describe our algorithmic approach, which was used for submissions in the fifth Emotion Recognition in the Wild (EmotiW 2017) group-level emotion recognition sub-challenge. We extracted feature vectors of detected faces using the Convolutional Neural Network trained for face identification task, rather than traditional pre-training on emotion recognition problems. In the final pipeline an ensemble of Random Forest classifiers was learned to predict emotion score using available training set. In case when the faces have not been detected, one member of our ensemble extracts features from the whole image. During our experimental study, the proposed approach showed the lowest error rate when compared to other explored techniques. In particular, we achieved 75.4% accuracy on the validation data, which is 20% higher than the handcrafted feature-based baseline. The source code using Keras framework is publicly available.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication at ICMI17 (EmotiW Grand Challenge

Improved burn wound healing by the antimicrobial peptide LLKKK18 released from conjugates with dextrin embedded in a Carbopol gel

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are good candidates to treat burn wounds, a major cause of morbidity, impaired life quality and resources consumption in developed countries. We took advantage of a commercially available hydrogel, Carbopol, a vehicle for topical administration that maintains a moist environment within the wound site. We hypothesized that the incorporation of LLKKK18 conjugated to dextrin would improve the healing process in rat burns. Whereas the hydrogel improves healing, LLKKK18 released from the dextrin conjugates further accelerates wound closure, and simultaneously improving the quality of healing. Indeed, the release of LLKKK18 reduces oxidative stress and inflammation (low neutrophil and macrophage infiltration and pro-inflammatory cytokines levels). Importantly, it induced a faster resolution of the inflammatory stage through early M2 macrophage recruitment. In addition, LLKKK18 stimulates angiogenesis (increased VEGF and microvessel development in vivo), potentially contributing to more effective transport of nutrients and cytokines. Moreover, collagen staining evaluated by Massons Trichrome was visually much more intense after treatment with LLKKK18, suggesting higher collagen deposition. Overall, we generated an effective, safe and inexpensive formulation that maintains a moist environment in the wound, easy to apply and remove, and with potential to prevent infection due to the presence of an antimicrobial peptide. These findings propel us to further study this LLKKK18-containing formulation, setting the foundations towards a potential therapeutic approach for burn wound treatment.Fundação Para a Ciência e Tecnologi

A vaccine that prevents pregnancy in women

We report here results of clinical trials on a birth control vaccine, consisting of a heterospecies dimer of the beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) associated noncovalently with the alpha subunit of ovine luteinizing hormone and conjugated to tetanus and diphtheria toxoids as carriers, that induces antibodies of high avidity (K(a) approximately 10(10) M-1) against hCG. Fertile women exposed to conception over 1224 cycles recorded only one pregnancy at antibody titers of > 50 ng/ml (hCG bioneutralization capacity). The antibody response declines with time; fertility was regained when titers fell to < 35 ng/ml. This study presents evidence of the feasibility of a vaccine for control of human fertility

Assessment of burn wound tissue in situ by multiphoton microscopy employing fluorescence and second harmonic generation contrasts in live animals

Current assessment of burn wound depth and progression of healing for proper choice of treatment is based on time-consuming and invasive techniques that may interfere with the healing process. One way to overcome these problems is to use noninvasive techniques. We use multiphoton microscopy (MPM) that employs fluorescence and second harmonic generation (SHG) contrasts to noninvasively follow the burn healing process in situ as healing progresses in live animals. Healing progression was followed in a partial thickness burn wound made on the dorsum of anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats with a 2.8 cm diameter brass cylinder heated at 80oC for 60 seconds and pressed against the shaved rat skin for 6 seconds. During the first five days, burn healing was characterized by changes in the organization of collagen into a compact, mat-like assembly, suggesting progressive degradation of collagen within the injury site.We also detected increased follicular cell damage and a strong auto-fluorescence signal from cellular debris. Deposition of new collagen was seen after the scab fell off and gradually increased thereafter as detected with an increase in the SHG signal intensity. A great increase in the density of cells was observed as well. From day 21 on, a network of capillaries with blood flow was observed. The epidermal cell layer and the blood vessel network became progressively more organized. At day 29, fibrillar collagen had SHG signal levels and morphology of the nearly preburn state. These findings were corroborated by histology/histochemistry. In conclusion, MPM technology that employs fluorescence and SHG contrasts is instrumental in following the healing process, in particular during the early stages of healing. The degree and rate with which these events occur early after burning could help clinicians make treatment decisions. The outcomes of healing at later times would be indicative of the effectiveness of the treatment applied

Release of insulin from PLGA-alginate dressing stimulates regenerative healing of burn wounds in rats

Burn wound healing involves a complex set of overlapping processes in an environment conducive to ischemia, inflammation, and infection costing $7.5 billion/year in the US alone, in addition to the morbidity and mortality that occur when the burns are extensive. We previously showed that insulin, when topically applied to skin excision wounds, accelerates re-epithelialization, and stimulates angiogenesis. More recently, we developed an alginate sponge dressing (ASD) containing insulin encapsulated in PLGA microparticles that provides a sustained release of bioactive insulin for >20days in a moist and protective environment. We hypothesized that insulin-containing ASD accelerates burn healing and stimulates a more regenerative, less scarring, healing. Using a heat-induced burn injury in rats, we show that burns treated with dressings containing 0.04mg insulin/cm2, every three days for 9 days, have faster closure, faster rate of disintegration of dead tissue, and decreased oxidative stress.In addition, in insulin-treated wounds the pattern of neutrophil inflammatory response suggests faster clearing of the burn dead tissue. We also observe faster resolution of the pro-inflammatory macrophages. We also found that insulin stimulates collagen deposition and maturation with the fibers organized more like a basket weave (normal skin) than aligned and crosslinked (scar tissue). In summary , application of ASD-containing insulin-loaded PLGA particles on burns every three days stimulates faster and more regenerative healing. These results suggest insulin as a potential therapeutic agent in burn healing and, because of its long history of safe use in humans, insulin could become one of the treatments of choice when repair and regeneration are critical for proper tissue function.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Fund of China [grant numbers 81170761 and 81270909 (to Y.L.)]; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [grant numbers 204794-2011 (to M.H.) and private donor (to M.M.-G.)]

Cigarette Smoke Toxins Deposited on Surfaces: Implications for Human Health

Cigarette smoking remains a significant health threat for smokers and nonsmokers alike. Secondhand smoke (SHS) is intrinsically more toxic than directly inhaled smoke. Recently, a new threat has been discovered – Thirdhand smoke (THS) – the accumulation of SHS on surfaces that ages with time, becoming progressively more toxic. THS is a potential health threat to children, spouses of smokers and workers in environments where smoking is or has been allowed. The goal of this study is to investigate the effects of THS on liver, lung, skin healing, and behavior, using an animal model exposed to THS under conditions that mimic exposure of humans. THS-exposed mice show alterations in multiple organ systems and excrete levels of NNAL (a tobacco-specific carcinogen biomarker) similar to those found in children exposed to SHS (and consequently to THS). In liver, THS leads to increased lipid levels and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a precursor to cirrhosis and cancer and a potential contributor to cardiovascular disease. In lung, THS stimulates excess collagen production and high levels of inflammatory cytokines, suggesting propensity for fibrosis with implications for inflammation-induced diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. In wounded skin, healing in THS-exposed mice has many characteristics of the poor healing of surgical incisions observed in human smokers. Lastly, behavioral tests show that THS-exposed mice become hyperactive. The latter data, combined with emerging associated behavioral problems in children exposed to SHS/THS, suggest that, with prolonged exposure, they may be at significant risk for developing more severe neurological disorders. These results provide a basis for studies on the toxic effects of THS in humans and inform potential regulatory policies to prevent involuntary exposure to THS

Real-Time In Situ Observation of CsPbBr3 Perovskite Nanoplatelets Transforming into Nanosheets

The manipulation of nano-objects through heating is an effective strategy for inducing structural modifications and therefore changing the optoelectronic properties of semiconducting materials. Despite its potential, the underlying mechanism of the structural transformations remains elusive, largely due to the challenges associated with their in situ observations. To address these issues, we synthesize temperature-sensitive CsPbBr3 perovskite nanoplatelets and investigate their structural evolution at the nanoscale using in situ heating transmission electron microscopy. We observe the morphological changes that start from the self-assembly of the nanoplatelets into ribbons on a substrate. We identify several paths of merging nanoplates within ribbons that ultimately lead to the formation of nanosheets dispersed randomly on the substrate. These observations are supported by molecular dynamics simulations. We correlate the various paths for merging to the random orientation of the initial ribbons along with the ligand mobility (especially from the edges of the nanoplatelets). This leads to the preferential growth of individual nanosheets and the merging of neighboring ones. These processes enable the creation of structures with tunable emission, ranging from blue to green, all from a single material. Our real-time observations of the transformation of perovskite 2D nanocrystals reveal a route to achieve large-area nanosheets by controlling the initial orientation of the self-assembled objects with potential for large-scale applications

Inappropriate prescribing and adverse drug events in older people

Inappropriate prescribing (IP) in older patients is highly prevalent and is associated with an increased risk of adverse drug events (ADEs), morbidity, mortality and healthcare utilisation. Consequently, IP is a major safety concern and with changing population demographics, it is likely to become even more prevalent in the future. IP can be detected using explicit or implicit prescribing indicators. Theoretically, the routine clinical application of these IP criteria could represent an inexpensive and time efficient method to optimise prescribing practice. However, IP criteria must be sensitive, specific, have good inter-rater reliability and incorporate those medications most commonly associated with ADEs in older people. To be clinically relevant, use of prescribing appropriateness tools must translate into positive patient outcomes, such as reduced rates of ADEs. To accurately measure these outcomes, a reliable method of assessing the relationship between the administration of a drug and an adverse clinical event is required. The Naranjo criteria are the most widely used tool for assessing ADE causality, however, they are often difficult to interpret in the context of older patients. ADE causality criteria that allow for the multiple co-morbidities and prescribed medications in older people are required. Ultimately, the current high prevalence of IP and ADEs is unacceptable. IP screening criteria need to be tested as an intervention to assess their impact on the incidence of ADEs in vulnerable older patients. There is a role for IP screening tools in everyday clinical practice. These should enhance, not replace good clinical judgement, which in turn should be based on sound pharmacogeriatric training