Electoral Manipulations, Economic Policies and Voting Behavior in India

This dissertation analyzes voting behavior and presence of political cycles in India. While such exercises have been carried out extensively in the context of developed countries and established democracies, there have been few studies on similar behavior in developing countries and new economies. The focus on India in this study may provide valuable insight into this literature in an area that has been largely ignored. Our findings suggest that political manipulation of taxes, grants and expenditures are prevalent at both the national and sub-national levels; though they are tempered by the nature of partisanship. However, while these manipulations may be economically inefficient, they are politically very strategic as incumbents seem to focus on manipulating those items for which they can claim sole responsibility. Indian voters seem to be fiscal conservatives, as they penalize increases in most items of expenditures and generally reward reductions in taxes. Evidence of yardstick effects in taxes is also presented. We find that a higher degree of ‘clarity of responsibility’ also fosters stronger economic voting effects. Voters seem to be cognizant of the division of functional responsibility between the two levels of government (the center and the state) and they evaluate their performance independently. Also, we find results consistent with the notion that the central government is responsible for the overall health of the economy as voters seem to penalize the central incumbent for increases in inflation and reward them for steady growth while being indifferent to such outcome variables while voting for the state level incumbent. The policy implications of such findings are also briefly discussed. It is a matter of grave concern if incumbents tailored policies to provide them with the biggest political payoff. This may lead to differences in economic development across states and the incidence of expenditure and tax changes may fall unfairly on the most vulnerable people of the society. There are also important insights on assignment of responsibility and the ‘how’ of political interference which would aid us in building more comprehensive political economy models that are closer to reflecting reality than purely economic models commonly used today

Details matter: an evaluation of ‘evaluations’

In August 2009, the Indian parliament enacted the Right to Education (RTE) Act which enshrined education from 6 to 14 years as a ‘right’. The Act additionally mandated a variety of ‘requirements’ relating to infrastructure, Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR), curriculum, teacher training, inclusionary education, and the focus of this article – a continuous and comprehensive student evaluation system (CCE). The objective of these mandates was ensuring a ‘quality’ education for children. Amongst the mandates, the introduction of CCE signaled a paradigm shift in India’s public education. Historically, student evaluations have focused on measuring academic knowledge gained by children over the course of a term or year through terminal examinations. These were high- stakes exams, as scores carried a lot of weight in determining whether students were promoted or detained in the same standard. Traditional systems of evaluation were also very narrow in their scope – the focus was primarily on evaluating students on ‘subject’ knowledge and very rarely, if at all on other aspects. CCE on the other hand, was meant to be both continuous and comprehensive: by ‘continuous’ it meant that evaluation of students would be done ‘continually’ over the course of the academic term, and by ‘comprehensive’ it meant that evaluations would not just focus on learning in academic subjects, but also on co-curricular activities and behaviour. The underlying sentiment impelling these changes was that schooling should foster learning, be enjoyable and less stress inducing and focus on the holistic development of a child

Residue conservation and dimer-interface analysis of olfactory receptor molecular models

Olfactory Receptors (ORs) are members of the Class A rhodopsin like G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) which are the initial players in the signal transduction cascade, leading to the generation of nerve impulses transmitted to the brain and resulting in the detection of odorant molecules. Despite the accumulation of thousands of olfactory receptor sequences, no crystal structures of ORs are known tο date. However, the recent availability of crystallographic models of a few GPCRs allows us to generate homology models of ORs and analyze their amino acid patterns, as there is a huge diversity in OR sequences. In this study, we have generated three-dimensional models of 100 representative ORs from Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans and Sacharomyces cerevisiae which were selected on the basis of a composite classification scheme and phylogenetic analysis. The crystal structure of bovine rhodopsin was used as a template and it was found that the full-length models have more than 90% of their residues in allowed regions of the Ramachandran plot. The structures were further used for analysis of conserved residues in the transmembrane and extracellular loop regions in order to identify functionally important residues. Several ORs are known to be functional as dimers and hence dimer interfaces were predicted for OR models to analyse their oligomeric functional state

Multifunctional magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: diverse synthetic approaches, surface modifications, cytotoxicity towards biomedical and industrial applications

Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MIONPs) play a major role in the emerging fields of nanotechnology to facilitate rapid advancements in biomedical and industrial platforms. The superparamagnetic properties of MIONPs and their environment friendly synthetic methods with well-defined particle size have become indispensable to obtain their full potential in a variety of applications ranging from cellular to diverse areas of biomedical science. Thus, the broadened scope and need for MIONPs in their demanding fields of applications required to be highlighted for a comprehensive understanding of their state-of-the-art. Many synthetic methods, however, do not entirely abolish their undesired cytotoxic effects caused by free radical production and high iron dosage. In addition, the agglomeration of MIONPs has also been a major problem. To alleviate these issues, suitable surface modification strategies adaptive to MIONPs has been suggested not only for the effective cytotoxicity control but also to minimize their agglomeration. The surface modification using inorganic and organic polymeric materials would represent an efficient strategy to utilize the diagnostic and therapeutic potentials of MIONPs in various human diseases including cancer. This review article elaborates the structural and magnetic properties of MIONPs, specifically magnetite, maghemite and hematite, followed by the important synthetic methods that can be exploited for biomedical approaches. The in vivo cytotoxic effects and the possible surface modifications employed to eliminate the cytotoxicity thereby enhancing the nanoparticle efficacy are also critically discussed. The roles and applications of surface modified MIONPs in medical and industrial platforms have been described for the benefits of global well-being.This work was supported by Department of Science and Technology Nano‑ mission, Government of India [Grant No. DST/NM/NB-2018/10(G)], Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, India [Grant No. YSS/2014/00026] and University Grants Commission, India [Grant No. F. 4-5(24-FRP)/2013(BSR)]. This article is a result of the project NORTE-010145-FEDER-000012, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Pro‑ gramme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work was also fnanced by FEDER-Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020-Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior in the framework of the project “Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences” (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Unraveling Prostaglandin and NLRP3 Inflammasomemediated Pathways of Primary Dysmenorrhea and the Role of Mefenamic Acid and Its Combinations

Painful menstrual cramps during or around the time of the monthly cycle are known as dysmenorrhea. The estimated global prevalence in women of reproductive age ranges from 45% to 95%. It has a significant negative impact on regular activities and productivity at work. However, despite the severe consequences on quality of life, primary dysmenorrhea (PD) is underdiagnosed. Dysmenorrhea has complex pathogenesis. It involves the release of prostaglandins and activation of the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome and also includes the involvement of other mediators such as bradykinin, histamine and acetylcholine. Even though nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) remain the most common type of pain medication, the question of which one should be the most preferred is still open to debate. The current review examines the existing evidence for the pathogenesis of PD and makes evidence based and clinical experience based recommendations for the use of mefenamic acid and its combination in the treatment of dysmenorrhea. Mefenamic acid alleviates PD by inhibiting endometrial prostaglandin formation, restoring normal uterine activity, and reducing the inflammatory response by inhibiting the NLRP3 inflammasome and reducing the release of cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1β. It is also known to have bradykinin antagonist activity. Dicyclomine has a dual action of blocking the muscarinic action of acetylcholine in postganglionic parasympathetic effect or regions and acting directly on uterine smooth muscle by blocking bradykinin and histamine receptors to relieve spasms. According to the experts, mefenamic acid and dicyclomine act synergistically by acting on the different pathways of dysmenorrhea by blocking multifactorial agents attributed to the cause of dysmenorrhea. Hence, the combination of mefenamic acid and dicyclomine should be the preferred treatment option for dysmenorrhea

Assessing the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment: the challenge ahead.

Lifestyle factors are responsible for a considerable portion of cancer incidence worldwide, but credible estimates from the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) suggest that the fraction of cancers attributable to toxic environmental exposures is between 7% and 19%. To explore the hypothesis that low-dose exposures to mixtures of chemicals in the environment may be combining to contribute to environmental carcinogenesis, we reviewed 11 hallmark phenotypes of cancer, multiple priority target sites for disruption in each area and prototypical chemical disruptors for all targets, this included dose-response characterizations, evidence of low-dose effects and cross-hallmark effects for all targets and chemicals. In total, 85 examples of chemicals were reviewed for actions on key pathways/mechanisms related to carcinogenesis. Only 15% (13/85) were found to have evidence of a dose-response threshold, whereas 59% (50/85) exerted low-dose effects. No dose-response information was found for the remaining 26% (22/85). Our analysis suggests that the cumulative effects of individual (non-carcinogenic) chemicals acting on different pathways, and a variety of related systems, organs, tissues and cells could plausibly conspire to produce carcinogenic synergies. Additional basic research on carcinogenesis and research focused on low-dose effects of chemical mixtures needs to be rigorously pursued before the merits of this hypothesis can be further advanced. However, the structure of the World Health Organization International Programme on Chemical Safety 'Mode of Action' framework should be revisited as it has inherent weaknesses that are not fully aligned with our current understanding of cancer biology