ANTI-METASTATIC MECHANISM AND EFFICACY OF BROMELAIN

Bromelain, an enzyme from the pineapple plant has varied pharmacological activities, out of which it shows specific anticancer activity and now is gaining attention regarding this aspect. Medicinal qualities of bromelain include antiedematous; anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, fibrinolytic, immunogenicity and it is used in the treatment of thrombosis and thrombophlebitis, diarrhea, debridement of burns etc. This article reviews the mechanism and efficacy of bromelain in fighting against tumor cells, inspite of it being a natural drug with enzymatic background. Bromelain shows antimetastatic efficacy and inhibits platelet aggregation, growth, and invasiveness of tumor cells. Its effectiveness and safety in cancer treatment has to be considered due to its Selective cytotoxicity. Bromelain being a plant extract, contains various components such as proteinases, peroxidises, phosphatises, protease inhibitors and organically bound calcium. These components might contribute to the variations of bromelains pharmacological activities. The main aim of this article is to focus the safety and efficacy of this drug in cancer treatment and comparing it with other chemotherapeutic agents

Oral Traditions: An Analysis of Story Telling and Performance in Paule Marshall’s Praisesong for the Widow

Dorothy Noyes, in her essay Tradition: Three Traditions, notes that the word tradition implies handing over or delivery (Noyes 233). Furthermore, tradition is identified as a communal belonging that involves the transfer of responsibility for a valued practice or performance from one generation to the next (233). This essay will apply the characteristics and role of tradition, outlined by Noyes and others, to develop a critical understanding of two acts of oral tradition pivotal to the spiritual transformation of Avey Johnson, the protagonist of Paule Marshall\u27s Praisesong for the Widow. These two interconnected acts, the story of Ibo Landing and the ritual of Beg Pardon, are instances of oral memory that are shared and transmitted between peers and to future generations through story telling and performance. Among other purposes, the oral traditions in Praisesong for the Widow give Avey a sense of belonging to the African diasporic and African American community, help her recreate and reclaim her cultural heritage, and finally, preserve the experiences of the enslaved Africans and their descendants in North America. In the novel, Marshall also sounds a warning to her readers about the need for vigilance in protecting oral traditions in the face of materialism

Supernatural Healing: Narratives of individuals who report on the healing of a sensorineural hearing loss

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. In the fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2017Background: Science and Religion have been debated for centuries. Healthcare assessments and management have traditionally focused on the medical model of detecting and curing a disease, facilitating a narrow focus on the physical needs. There is little consideration for the psychological, social and spiritual factors that affect a human life. Healthcare however should operate in both the temporal and the spiritual spheres. More inclusive models of healthcare are becoming favourable as diversity of patients and health practitioners becomes more evident, hence this applies to the practice of Audiology services too. Hearing loss the ‘hidden disability’ is regarded as the number one disability in the world thus a significant proportion of the world’s population is affection directly or indirectly by this communication hindering disability. Prior to rehabilitation, finding a cure was the ultimate goal when considering any medical pathology. Presently there is still no surgical method available to replace the damaged hair cells of the cochlea that cause a sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). The culturally diverse South African population comprises of individuals who belong to various ethnic and religious groups, thus the melting pot of rehabilitation techniques for any illness may vary from the predominantly used medical model. Supernatural healing may occur in various forms and from various sources within the South African population, including traditional healers, spiritual healers or religious leaders. Hence this study explored the narratives of individuals who claim that they have been healed supernaturally of a sensorineural hearing loss. Methodology: This study aimed to fulfil three main objectives: to identify the recurring themes within the narratives of participants who reported a healing, with the purpose of deconstructing the aspect of healing amongst participants; to describe the cultural, religious, spiritual and social influences that impact the individual with a hearing loss; and to design a proposed working Audiological Model: An Integrated Model of service delivery in Audiology. There were three sub-objectives: to document the diagnosis of the sensorineural hearing loss; to identify the ‘turning point’ event or events that caused the reported healing; and to explore the influences of the healing on the participant’s life. This study was an exploratory case-study design within a qualitative paradigm. Snowball sampling was employed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven participants, six of which were female and one male. Two of the participants’ mothers were interviewed as the reported healing occurred when the participants were children. All ethical parameters were maintained. The data analysis included a narrative inquiry into the context of the main event which was the supernatural healing. Thereafter the Supernatural Healing: Narratives of individuals who report on the healing of a sensorineural hearing loss. 3 University of the Witwatersrand PhD by Dhanashree Pillay 2017 content associated with the participant’s life before and after the event was analysed and discussed. Thematic content analysis was employed to identify the common categories and themes within the narratives of this study. Results and Discussion: This study identified four main categories and 13 themes within the narratives obtained. Categories included: Identification, assessment and management of a hearing loss; cause of a hearing loss; the healing event and the areas of a participant’s life that changed by the healing event. Major themes included: Hearing loss and its relation to sin and curses; physical and non-physical healing; the life of prayer and reactions to the healing. The narratives illustrated that individuals with a hearing loss are seeking alternative healing practices in conjunction with Audiological care. There is a barrier between the audiologist and the individual with a hearing loss as there appears to be a lack of freedom to discuss pertinent aspects such as alternative care. There is a need for change within the service delivery model in Audiology, a shift from the medical model of practice to a more holistic and integrated model of service delivery that encompasses all areas of life into the assessment and management process. Conclusion: A cohesive, integrated referral system and collaboration between professionals and caregivers are often the dictators of the assessment and early diagnosis of the hearing loss. A service delivery model that incorporates all aspects of life is therefore recommended within the profession of Audiology. The argument for a change in the current service delivery model in Audiology is supported by the evidence in the narratives obtained in this study. Individual’s with a hearing loss are seeking for alternative means of healing and it is negligent and divisive to disregard the interconnectedness of the medical, psychological, social and spiritual facets that affect the individual being seen by an audiologist. The diversity in South Africa must be embraced and incorporated into the healthcare service delivery model to ensure that the individual with a hearing loss is receiving contextually based services that are appropriate and necessary. Training of future audiologists must include multicultural and multidisciplinary areas as audiologists need to be equipped for success when they are faced with areas that are not familiar to the current medical model of practice. Healing is multidimensional and clinical practice in the field of Audiology must consider and include the aspects of healing that are relevant to the individual seen. A proposed case history section was developed from the evidence obtained in this study. The section allows the audiologist to explore religious and spiritual beliefs of the individual with a healing loss and his/her family. This study is one of the first studies that explore the relationship between medicine, religion and spirituality however these areas have been intertwined Supernatural Healing: Narratives of individuals who report on the healing of a sensorineural hearing loss. 4 University of the Witwatersrand PhD by Dhanashree Pillay 2017 for centuries. The findings and recommendations in this study will assist audiologists in managing individuals in an integrated holistic manner. Keywords: Healing, Supernatural, Hearing loss, Audiology practice, Alternative Practices, Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Practice.GR201

Master of Science

thesisThis document describes an improved method of formal verification of complex analog/mixed-signal (AMS) circuits. Currently, in our LEMA tool, verification properties are encoded using labeled Petri net (LPN). These LPNs are generated manually, a tedious process that requires the user to have considerable familiarity with the tool. To eliminate this time-consuming process, our LEMA tool is extended to include a translator that converts properties written in a property specification language to LPNs. New methods are also implemented to separate the transient period from the stable output period, thus improving the generated model. Also, the current methodology generates the circuit models for the input values used during the simulation of the circuit. So, models generated for other control input values are not accurate. In this case, accuracy of the generated models is improved by using a linear abstraction method like interpolation

APPLICATION OF LACCASE PRODUCED BY MARINE ACTINOMYCETES IN ACCELERATING THE RATE OF BIODEGRADATION OF POLYETHYLENE

Although plastic is very useful in modern life, its widespread use could impair human sustainability. Improper plastic waste management generates greenhouse gases and harmful waste. Plastics and its associated by-products, such as microplastics, accumulate on land and in the oceans causing harm to human and ecological health. An environmentally friendly solution, such as enzymes-mediated biocatalytic depolymerization, is required for efficient management of the large amount of waste generated around the world. Actinomycetes are less explored for commercial biodegradation processes but have attracted attention since they constitute a significant proportion of the soil and aquatic flora and because of their ability to degrade complex materials. This study involves identification of laccase-producing marine actinomycetes and examining the possibility of accelerating the rate of biodegradation of polyethylene by treating with laccase enzyme. The polyethylene test material treated with laccase enzyme for 30 days shows 9.36 percent rate of biodegradation, which was six times higher than the rate of biodegradation of an untreated one. The change in the chemical structure of the polyethylene was studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. After treatment with laccase enzyme, the carbonyl index of the polyethylene test material increased to 1.25 indicating that the polymer was oxidized, and post biodegradation study showed that the carbonyl index decreased to 0.66 which confirms the concept that oxidized polymer was utilized by the microorganisms. The laccase-producing isolate A-09 showed 99 percent identity as Streptomyces rubiginosus based on molecular fingerprinting

Managing Libraries and Information with Technology

The influx of an ever-explosive information in library and information centres, through varied information sources, and in a mixed media format, has drastically changed the patterns of information services and its administration. This paper explores the possible interfaces of library and information science with sophisticated information technology (IT), which helps elicit code, store, to finally disseminate and manage information in various library infrastructures effectively. The conclusion follows the observations entailing from today's IT- Library synergy

Charge-transfer and other excitonic state in conjugated polymer : fullerene blends-implication in photovoltaics

"May 2014."Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Suchi Guha.Includes vita.Over the last few decades there has been tremendous progress in organic photovoltaics (OPVs), with efficiencies reaching over 10%. Still, many factors including the origin and the dynamics of charge carrier involved are debatable. New and sensitive techniques are constantly being devised to identify the origin of free charges. At the same time, a lot of research has also been devoted to synthesize low bandgap material such that its absorption spectra overlap with that of the solar spectrum. The most important hindrance in organic semiconductors is the formation of bound electron-hole (exciton) charge pair upon photoexcitation. Additional energy is required to dissociate the bound pair to generate free charges for photovoltaic application. The most popular and efficient way to dissociate excitons is to fabricate a bulk heterojunction solar cell, which comprises of a blend of at least two polymers: one donor and the other acceptor. It is very well established that the presence of fullerene (acceptor) helps in transfer of the negative charges from the donor polymer to fullerene, making the exciton slightly less bound. The nanometer scale islands further help in migration of charges. A crucial aspect of our studies has been evaluating the role of various excitonic states such as charge-transfer and triplet excitonic states in device efficiencies. The focus of this work was on diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)- based donor-acceptor (D-A) type conjugated copolymers which have low bandgap energies and have been known to show high efficiency in organic photovoltaics. These copolymers have D-A unit present in the same chain, which lowers the optical bandgap of the material. Variation of either the donor or the acceptor fraction offers an option to tune the optical bandgap by using the same D-A chromophores. The D-A configuration also results in the separation of positive and negative charges within the same polymeric chain, which is the intramolecular charge-transfer excitonic state. We analyze the intramolecular charge-transfeIncludes bibliographical references (pages 125-136)

Evolution of temporal order in living organisms

Circadian clocks are believed to have evolved in parallel with the geological history of the earth, and have since been fine-tuned under selection pressures imposed by cyclic factors in the environment. These clocks regulate a wide variety of behavioral and metabolic processes in many life forms. They enhance the fitness of organisms by improving their ability to efficiently anticipate periodic events in their external environments, especially periodic changes in light, temperature and humidity. Circadian clocks provide fitness advantage even to organisms living under constant conditions, such as those prevailing in the depth of oceans or in subterranean caves, perhaps by coordinating several metabolic processes in the internal milieu. Although the issue of adaptive significance of circadian rhythms has always remained central to circadian biology research, it has never been subjected to systematic and rigorous empirical validation. A few studies carried out on free-living animals under field conditions and simulated periodic and aperiodic conditions of the laboratory suggest that circadian rhythms are of adaptive value to their owners. However, most of these studies suffer from a number of drawbacks such as lack of population-level replication, lack of true controls and lack of adequate control on the genetic composition of the populations, which in many ways limits the potential insights gained from the studies. The present review is an effort to critically discuss studies that directly or indirectly touch upon the issue of adaptive significance of circadian rhythms and highlight some shortcomings that should be avoided while designing future experiments

Disruption of Black Hole attacks in MANET

An Ad hoc network in a wireless system consist of an autonomous system, without centralization which results forming of mobile nodes. In MANET, each node works in a dual form that consists of a router as well as hosts. These nodes configure dynamically and communicate using hop to hop. Due to its simplicity it is used in mobile conferencing, military communication. In MANET nodes can join and leave the network so MANET becomes vulnerable. Certain factors like dynamic network configures, distribution cooperation, open medium terrorized in routing which give rise to security issues. Once such protocol AODV has been a victim of security. In existing, MANET faces a severe problem known as the Black Hole problem. This Black hole problem is mostly found in reactive routing protocol called AODV.The black hole conducts its Malicious node during route discovery process. Black hole node is a severe threat in AODV protocol that easily employed and becomes vulnerable in MANET. In this paper various techniques are discussed to overcome the Black hole attack