The Interminable War of Men against Nature: An Ecological View on Sidney Sheldon’s The Best Laid Plans

War is the major threaten of human beings against nature and its resources. In this scientific and technological era, wars are more than a natural calamity which could swipe millions of beings and their chief dependent, nature in seconds. Countries all over the world negotiate and create peace treaties; on the other hand they do research in nuclear weapon which is disastrous. Now-a-days a countries power is determined only by the weapons that they posses. The worse impact of war, its exploitation and total destruction of nature and its resources are described very effectively and empathetically in Sidney Sheldon’s The Best Laid Plans. The novel pictures the traumatic effect of war on human beings and nature as a whole in Sarajevo. In this mode the paper deals with the study of the novel in relation to ecocriticism, the application of ecological concepts to the study of literature

MDA5 and TLR3 Initiate Pro-Inflammatory Signaling Pathways Leading to Rhinovirus-Induced Airways Inflammation and Hyperresponsiveness

Rhinovirus (RV), a single-stranded RNA picornavirus, is the most frequent cause of asthma exacerbations. We previously demonstrated in human bronchial epithelial cells that melanoma differentiation-associated gene (MDA)-5 and the adaptor protein for Toll-like receptor (TLR)-3 are each required for maximal RV1B-induced interferon (IFN) responses. However, in vivo, the overall airway response to viral infection likely represents a coordinated response integrating both antiviral and pro-inflammatory pathways. We examined the airway responses of MDA5- and TLR3-deficient mice to infection with RV1B, a minor group virus which replicates in mouse lungs. MDA5 null mice showed a delayed type I IFN and attenuated type III IFN response to RV1B infection, leading to a transient increase in viral titer. TLR3 null mice showed normal IFN responses and unchanged viral titers. Further, RV-infected MDA5 and TLR3 null mice showed reduced lung inflammatory responses and reduced airways responsiveness. Finally, RV-infected MDA5 null mice with allergic airways disease showed lower viral titers despite deficient IFN responses, and allergic MDA5 and TLR3 null mice each showed decreased RV-induced airway inflammatory and contractile responses. These results suggest that, in the context of RV infection, binding of viral dsRNA to MDA5 and TLR3 initiates pro-inflammatory signaling pathways leading to airways inflammation and hyperresponsiveness