Test anxiety levels of board exam going students in Tamil Nadu, India

The latest report by the National Crime Records Bureau has positioned Tamil Nadu as the Indian state with highest suicide rate. At least in part, this is happening due to exam pressure among adolescents, emphasizing the imperative need to understand the pattern of anxiety and various factors contributing to it among students. The present study was conducted to analyze the level of state anxiety among board exam attending school students in Tamil Nadu, India. A group of 100 students containing 50 boys and 50 girls from 10th and 12th grades participated in the study and their state anxiety before board exams was measured by Westside Test Anxiety Scale. We found that all board exam going students had increased level of anxiety, which was particularly higher among boys and 12th standard board exam going students. Analysis of various demographic variables showed that students from nuclear families presented higher anxiety levels compared to their desired competitive group. Overall, our results showing the prevalence of state anxiety among board exam going students in Tamil Nadu, India, support the recent attempt taken by Tamil Nadu government to improve student's academic performance in a healthier manner by appointing psychologists in all government schools

Comments: Baltimore City\u27s Green Building Standards, Building Towards an Uncertain Future

In August 2007 the Baltimore City Council passed Council Bill 07-0602 mandating that newly built and extensively modified buildings over 10,000 square feet comply with Green Building Standards. This law is considered among the first and most extensive green building codes to be passed so far in the United States. This law has not surprisingly sparked praise and criticism. While the law has been praised for its potential environmental benefits, it has also been criticized on the grounds that it is stricter than the laws of surrounding jurisdictions and has made building in Baltimore excessively expensive. Moreover, the law has been criticized as being inflexible and the City has been criticized for the uncertain implementation of the law

Glider Gladiators: American Transport Aviators and Glidermen in World War II

Examining the development and employment of gliderborne troops and paratroopers of World War II demonstrates marked differences between their inception and evolution among the Germans, British, and Americans. While Germany led in training and deploying such troops, their usage declined rapidly after the disastrous invasion of Crete. Early advancements in German-glider applications emanated primarily from post-World War I restrictions upon powered military aircraft development. This fact, juxtaposed with accelerated Allied soldier training and development of airborne troop doctrine while World War II progressed, proves a stark dichotomy of intra-war strategic evolution. Yet, among the Allies no total consensus in specifics of training and deploying glider pilots, gliderborne troops, and paratroopers appeared. This led to interesting differences between the two major airborne Allies, but also a long-standing schism between American paratroopers and American glider troops seemingly not manifesting among the British ranks, and perhaps not among the German soldiers either. Exacerbating this rift is the backseat role American gliderborne soldiers have taken to the more glamorous paratrooper. Yet, examination of unit staff records, personal accounts, and after-action reports from Operation Overlord, Operation Market Garden, and the Siege of Bastogne reveal no difference in combat capability or battlefield effectiveness. This thesis reveals American paratroopers and glider troops provided equal levels of combat performance and even valorous deeds—suggesting the value of the American gliderborne warriors and the pilots who delivered them to the battlefield should be regarded as integral in evaluating contributions to Allied World War II victory

Delivery as nanoparticles reduces imatinib mesylate-induced cardiotoxicity and improves anticancer activity

Clinical effectiveness of imatinib mesylate in cancer treatment is compromised by its off-target cardiotoxicity. In the present study, we have developed physically stable imatinib mesylate-loaded poly(lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles (INPs) that could sustainably release the drug, and studied its efficacy by in vitro anticancer and in vivo cardiotoxicity assays. MTT (methylthiazolyldiphenyl-tetrazolium bromide) assay revealed that INPs are more cytotoxic to MCF-7 breast cancer cells compared to the equivalent concentration of free imatinib mesylate. Wistar rats orally administered with 50 mg/kg INPs for 28 days showed no significant cardiotoxicity or associated changes. Whereas, increased alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase levels, and reduced white blood cell, red blood cell, and hemoglobin content were observed in the animals administered with free drug. While the histological sections from hearts of animals that received INPs did not show any significant cardiotoxic symptoms, loss of normal architecture and increased cytoplasmic vacuolization were observed in the heart sections of animals administered with free imatinib mesylate. Based on these results, we conclude that nano-encapsulation of imatinib mesylate increases its efficacy against cancer cells, with almost no cardiotoxicity

The banks that said no: banking relationships, credit supply and productivity in the UK

This paper uses a large firm-level dataset of UK companies and information on their pre-crisis lending relationships to identify the causal links from changes in credit supply to the real economy following the 2008 financial crisis. Controlling for demand in the product market, we find that the contraction in credit supply reduced labour productivity, wages and the capital intensity of production at the firm level. Firms experiencing adverse credit shocks were also more likely to fail, other things equal. We find that these effects are robust, statistically significant and economically large, but only when instruments based on pre-crisis banking relationships are used. We show that banking relationships were conditionally randomly assigned and were strong predictors of credit supply, such that any bias in our estimates is likely to be small

Anti-ulcer (ulcer-preventive) activity of ficus arnottiana miq. (moraceae) leaf methanolic extract

Problem statement: In spite of being one of the well-known medicinal plants used in Indian traditional medicine to treat several ailments, studies pertaining to the pharmacological properties of Ficus arnottiana are very scarce. We studied the anti-ulcer activity and acute toxicity of Ficus arnottiana leaf methanolic extract for the first time. Approach: Freshly collected F. arnottiana leaves were dried, powdered and extracted in methanol. To study the anti-ulcer activity, Wistar rats were orally administered with different doses of the extract (0, 250 and 500 mg kg-1 body weight day-1) or with the reference drug omeprazole (8 mg kg-1) for 10 days. After induction of ulcer using 5 mL kg-1 ethanol, stomachs of these animals were analyzed for gastric volume, ulcer area and gross pathological changes. Results: Our results showed that F. arnottiana methanolic extract could prevent ulcer in rats in a dose-dependent manner. Histological studies revealed that the extract had mucoprotective activity. The extract did not show any acute toxicity even at the dose of 5000 mg kg-1 indicating that the extract has no lethal effect. Preliminary phytochemical screening of this extract identified the presence of important secondary metabolites like flavonoids and tannins. Conclusion/Recommendations: From this study, it is clear that F. arnottiana leaf extract had significant anti-ulcer activity in animal models. It had muco-protective activity and gastric antisecretary activity. The extract is non-toxic even at relatively high concentrations.(undefined

Signaling pathways influencing tumor microenvironment and their exploitation for targeted drug delivery

In the recent years, the "tumor microenvironment" has been receiving growing attention due to its involvement in neoplastic transformation, tumor growth, invasion, and protection of tumor cells from host immune response. All these events are facilitated by chemical signals produced by the tumor as well as the surrounding stromal cells. This review is divided into two main parts in which the first part discusses the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)-mediated growth factor signaling, steroid hormone (SH) signaling, ancient signaling pathways, and other molecules that are involved in tumorigenesis and how they interact with each other to create a complex tumor microenvironment. In the second part, we bring together the recent nanocarrier-mediated drug delivery approaches to target the signaling pathways/molecules present in the tumor microenvironment.Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) [(SFRH/BPD/89493/2012]; FCT [SFRH/BD/72809/2010]; Portuguese Government; FCT national funds (PIDDAC) [PTDC/AGR-GPL/119211/2010, PEst-C/AGR/UI4033/2011]; European Fund for Regional Development (FEDER) through COMPETE Operational Programme Competitive Factors (POFC)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Antimicrobial activity of cream incorporated with silver nanoparticles biosynthesized from Withania somnifera

We report on the antimicrobial activity of a cream formulation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), biosynthesized using Withania somnifera extract. Aqueous extracts of leaves promoted efficient green synthesis of AgNPs compared to fruits and root extracts of W. somnifera. Biosynthesized AgNPs were characterized for their size and shape by physical-chemical techniques such as UV-visible spectroscopy, laser Doppler anemometry, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy. After confirming the antimicrobial potential of AgNPs, they were incorporated into a cream. Cream formulations of AgNPs and AgNO3 were prepared and compared for their antimicrobial activity against human pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Escherichia coli, and Candida albicans) and a plant pathogen (Agrobacterium tumefaciens). Our results show that AgNP creams possess significantly higher antimicrobial activity against the tested organisms.This work was supported by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT), projects (PTDC/AGR-ALI/105169/2008 and PTDC/AGR-GPL/119211/2010). Gregory Marslin is supported by a FCT PhD fellowship (SFRH/BD/72809/2010).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio