Photo essay: a great anointment in the 21st century

Every 12 years, thousands of people gather in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka to witness the Mahamastakabhisheka or the 'Great Head Anointment' of the 57-foot high statue of Bahubali. This photo essay captures the nearly thousand year old ceremony, which has been embellished with some 21st century additions in the form of material and technological changes. Text by Sweta Daga and Dhruva Ghosh. Photos by Rajiv Rathod, Sweta Daga, and Dhruva Ghosh

Mid Day Meal Scheme: Understanding Critical Issues with Reference to Ahmedabad City

Problems of illiteracy, malnutrition, anaemia, vitamin-A and iodine deficiency are very common among children in India. In 2001 Supreme Court of India ruled that state governments must provide mid-day meal (MDM) to children of government assisted primary schools. The 2007-2008 budget of the central government has allocated about Rs. 73 billion for the MDM scheme. Therefore, it becomes imperative that a comprehensive evaluation of the programme be undertaken to judge its efficacy. We studied the implementation of the scheme, made field visits to schools to document food preparation and delivery, and collected meal samples to test them in laboratory for nutritional contents and food safety. Study seems to indicate that the implementation of the scheme may be wanting on the grounds of nutrition and food safety. For example, protein and iodine content is not sufficiently provided by the meals. Raw food samples contained uric acid levels higher than stipulated by food laws. Traces of aflatoxins were also found. Food safety may be improved by employing food safety systems such as HACCP, contracting out meal preparation and distribution to reputed private parties, and offering packaged foods which also provide variety. Offering nutrition bars and fruits such as banana not only will ensure delivery of hygienic food but it will enhance the nutrition delivery of the MDM scheme.

Workshop on Gravitational-Wave Astrophysics for Early Career Scientists

Gravitational-wave science is rapidly growing in maturity as a research area; in May 2021 the next generation of gravitational-wave scientists gathered together to create a vision of the future of the field.Non peer reviewe

In vivo experiments demonstrate the potent antileishmanial efficacy of repurposed suramin in visceral leishmaniasis

Background: Treatment failure and resistance to the commonly used drugs remains a major obstacle for successful chemotherapy against visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Since the development of novel therapeutics involves exorbitant costs, the effectiveness of the currently available antitrypanosomatid drug suramin has been investigated as an antileishmanial, specifically for VL,in vitro and in animal model experiments. Methodology/Principal: Leishmania donovani promastigotes were treated with suramin and studies were performed to determine the extent and mode of cell mortality, cell cycle arrest and other in vitro parameters. In addition, L. donovani infected BALB/c mice were administered suramin and a host of immunological parameters determined to estimate the antileishmanial potency of the drug. Finally, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and enzymatic assays were used to probe the interaction of the drug with one of its putative targets namely parasitic phosphoglycerate kinase (LmPGK). Findings: The in vitro studies revealed the potential efficacy of suramin against the Leishmania parasite. This observation was further substantiated in the in vivo murine model, which demonstrated that upon suramin administration, the Leishmania infected BALB/c mice were able to reduce the parasitic burden and also generate the host protective immunological responses. ITC and enzyme assays confirmed the binding and consequent inhibition of LmPGK due to the drug. Conclusions/Significance: All experiments affirmed the efficacy of suramin against L. donovani infection, which could possibly lead to its inclusion in the repertoire of drugs against VL

Exchange rate regimes, devaluations and growth collapses

The loss of output in major recessions tends to be permanent. Using IMF de facto exchange rate regime classifications over the period 1980 to 2012 for up to 193 countries, it is shown that growth collapses are more frequent under less flexible exchange rate regimes, and particularly hard pegs. Amongst intermediate regimes, those with recent devaluations are less likely to experience a growth collapse, which confirms the role of exchange rate adjustment in reducing the output effects of a negative shock. Our findings are robust to the marked shift in the pattern of growth collapses after the global financial crisis

Photo essay: a great anointment in the 21st century

Every 12 years, thousands of people gather in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka to witness the Mahamastakabhisheka or the 'Great Head Anointment' of the 57-foot high statue of Bahubali. This photo essay captures the nearly thousand year old ceremony, which has been embellished with some 21st century additions in the form of material and technological changes. Text by Sweta Daga and Dhruva Ghosh. Photos by Rajiv Rathod, Sweta Daga, and Dhruva Ghosh

Band-structure tunability via the modulation of excitons in semiconductor nanostructures: manifestation in photocatalytic fuel generation

Understanding the energetics of electron transfer at the semiconductor interface is crucial for the development of solar harvesting technologies, including photovoltaics, photocatalysis, and solar fuel systems. However, modern artificial photosynthetic materials are not efficient and limited by their fast charge recombination with high binding energy of excitons. Hence, reducing the exciton binding energy can increase the generation of charge carriers, which improve the photocatalytic activities. Extensive research has been dedicated to improving the exciton dissociation efficiency through rational semiconductor design via heteroatom doping, vacancy engineering, the construction of heterostructures, and donor-pi-acceptor (D-pi-A) interfaces to extend the charge carrier migration, promoting the dissociation of excitons. Consequently, functionalized photocatalysts have demonstrated remarkable photocatalytic performances for solar fuel production under visible light irradiation. This review provides the fundamental aspects of excitons in semiconductor nanostructures, having a high binding energy and ultrafast exciton formation together with promising photo-redox properties for solar to fuel conversion application. In particular, this review highlights the significant role of the excitonic effect in the photocatalytic activity of newly developed functional materials and the underlying mechanistic insight for tuning the performance of nanostructured semiconductor photocatalysts for water splitting, CO2 reduction, and N-2 fixation reactions

First report on chlorophyllin to protect mammalian and fish muscle cells from pesticide toxicity via activation of p53 and PARP

Objectives: Pesticide toxicity has become one of the major environmental menaces affecting all types of life forms of the ecosystem. Pesticides get washed off from agricultural fields into nearby water bodies and enter the aquatic organisms. Their bio-accumulated form finally reaches the human race, through consumption of pesticide infested aquatic animals, causing several physiological dysfunctions. Hence it becomes necessary to find a therapeutic cure/a preventive measure to stop the health hazard issues of pesticide. With this projection a search for a phyto-based-product was made whose primary objective would be to lower the pesticidal toxicity in fish and simultaneously in the human race. Methods: In this study we tried to check whether the phyto-chemical, Chlorophyllin (CHL), known for its anti-genotoxic, anti-oxidant activities, could render any kind of protection against Cypermethrin (CM) induced-toxicity in fish model and mammalian cell line L6. Both the model L6 and fish were pre-treated with CHL prior to exposure of CM. Different scientific parameters like % cellular cytotoxicity, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, nuclear condensation, etc were checked to validate the possibility of CHL in protecting CM-induced toxicity. Results: The overall results revealed that pre-treatment with CHL could restrict the ROS generation leading to modulation in associated cytokine proteins expression NFkβ and IFNγ. Further, CHL lowered nuclear condensation and elevated expression of DNA repair proteins p53 and PARP, showing a kind of pre-activation of signalling cascades for overall protection against the severity of pesticidal toxicity. Conclusion: Thus, this phyto-based preventive approach would possibly solve many areas of human health issues related to pesticide toxicity in future

Legacy of the First Workshop on Gravitational Wave Astrophysics for Early Career Scientists

Gravitational wave science is a dynamical, fast-expanding research field founded on results, tools and methodologies drawn from different research areas and communities. Early career scientists entering this field must learn and combine knowledge and techniques from a range of disciplines. The Workshop on Gravitational-Wave Astrophysics for Early Career Scientists (GWAECS), held virtually in May 2021, planted the seeds of an interdisciplinary, well-connected and all-inclusive community of early career scientists working on gravitational waves, able to exchange relevant information and ideas, build a healthy professional and international environment, share and learn valuable skills, and ensure that ongoing research efforts are perpetuated and expanded in order to attain the main scientific goals envisioned by the whole community. GWAECS was the first event unifying early career scientists belonging to different communities, historically associated with different large-scale gravitational wave experiments. It provided a broad perspective on the future of gravitational waves, offered training on soft and transferable skills and allowed ample time for informal discussions between early career scientists and well-known research experts. The essence of those activities is summarised and collected in the present document, which presents a recap of each session of the workshop and aims to provide all early career scientists with a long-lasting, useful reference which constitutes the legacy of all the ideas that circulated at GWAECS