Rama Ravana Battle Scenes in Tamil Temple Sculptures

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are immortal epics that are the treasury of Indian culture. Both epics convey the values and ideals that people need. The Ramayana written in the Northern language by Valmiki is in some way the source for other Indian language Ramayanas. Kambana in Tamil and Konaputharetti in Telugu have composed Kambaramayana and Iranganatha Ramayana respectively. Sculptures can be found in the temples of Tamil Nadu including these three language Ramayanas. Thus, it is possible to realize that literature and art are interrelated. Many of the Alvars in the Vaishnava literary four-thousandth Prabhupada exemplify the message of Ramavatara. Among the Alvars, Kulasekara gives the Ramavatara reference. References to the Ramayana are also baked into vegetarian literature. The Ashoka Pillar of the Mauryan period is the beginning of the stone sculpture. Horoscope Ramayana messages in India are inscribed on Buddhist monuments. Although Rama, Krishna and Narasimhan are notable among the three incarnations of the Vaishnava deity Thirumal in Tamil Nadu, the influence on the Ramayana is due to the large number of sculptures about Rama. The Vedic Cholas in Tamil Nadu have created Vaishnava Ramayana sculptures in their temples. The influence of Vaishnavism was greatest during the Vijayanagara Nayak period following the Chola period. The Vijayanagara Nayaks built roundabouts, planes, towers, etc., along with the foundations of the temple. Of these, sculptures were placed on stones and sutas. Ravanavatha is featured in the war to fulfill the purpose of Ramavatar. The battle of Rama Ravana and Ravanavatha can be seen in the temples of Tamil Nadu as sculptures of this event

Web impact assessment of identified higher education institutions in India

URL citations analysis is one of the methods for web impact assessment. This study classifies URL citations andidentifies the motivational factors behind such citations received by higher education institutions in India. Spearman andChi-square analyses were used to highlight the relationship between the institution groups and website categories.Chi-square test reveals that the National Institutes of Technology had more impact in each category of websites

Antimicrobial Peptides from Insects: An Overview

Bacteria are exceptionally adept at acquiring resistance to antibiotics and antiseptic agents, hence new antibiotics and strategies are therefore needed to deal with this threat. Several authors have reported the inhibitory effect of anti microbial peptides of animal origin on bacteria and research is on the rise about insect antimicrobial peptides. An attempt has been made to have a comprehensive review of the research work carried out on antimicrobial peptides from insects

Effectiveness of Adult Literacy Program through Computer Assisted E-Learning

There are innumerable means, sources and methods of adult learning for adult literacy programs are experimented over the period of time. The evolutionary trends of methods, means and modes of adult education and its teaching methods are notable. There are number of researches shows that the methods of teaching especially adult literacy teaching have made positive impact on the adult learnerrsquos performances from time to time since adult literacy is a basis for the development of society. In the recent years, technology has played a key role in promoting literacy among the illiterates in the rural and urban areas. Particularly, the computers are being utilized under this study to assists in teaching basic 3 ldquoRrdquo skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. The present article is highlighted the impact and effectiveness of the Adult Literacy Program through Computer Assisted E. Learning Software used in the promoting adult literacy among rural and urban illiterates

Serum magnesium at 18-20 weeks of gestation: can it be a predictor of gestational hypertension and fetomaternal outcome?

Background: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) is a major cause of maternal, fetal morbidity and mortality complicating 10% of all gestations. As effective treatments are very limited, prediction of HDP occurrence is most importance. Though many biomarkers have shown relationship with HDP, serum magnesium (Mg) has shown better predictor as involved in maintaining vascular contractility, tone. This study is intended to analyse incidence of GHT and fetomaternal outcome in pregnant women with normal and low serum magnesium level measured at mid trimester (18-20 weeks).Methods: A total of 105 consecutive singleton pregnant women in between 18-20 weeks of gestation attending OBG outpatient department were enrolled. After obtaining the informed consent, structured proforma was used to collect demographic, clinical details. Serum magnesium was measured by the colorimetric method and study participants were divided into two groups based on Mg cut off 1.5 mg/dl and followed up throughout pregnancy for fetomaternal outcome.Results: This study results revealed that 35.2% (37/105) pregnant women had serum Mg level < 1.5 mg/dl and mean value of Mg of all participant is 1.7 mg/dl, just above the lower limit. During follow-up of these two groups, statistically significant correlation between serum Mg levels (< 1.5 mg/dl) with GHT (8/12) occurrence and pre term birth was found. Other fetomaternal outcome not had significant correlation.Conclusions: As per the findings, serum Mg concentration measurement in between 18-20 weeks can be considered as a one of the predictors for subsequent occurrence of maternal outcome of GHT and fetal outcome of pre-term birth

Chicken intestinal organoids: a novel method to measure the mode of action of feed additives

There is a rapidly growing interest in how the avian intestine is affected by dietary components and feed additives. The paucity of physiologically relevant models has limited research in this field of poultry gut health and led to an over-reliance on the use of live birds for experiments. The development of complex 3D intestinal organoids or "mini-guts" has created ample opportunities for poultry research in this field. A major advantage of the floating chicken intestinal organoids is the combination of a complex cell system with an easily accessible apical-out orientation grown in a simple culture medium without an extracellular matrix. The objective was to investigate the impact of a commercial proprietary blend of organic acids and essential oils (OA+EO) on the innate immune responses and kinome of chicken intestinal organoids in a Salmonella challenge model. To mimic the in vivo prolonged exposure of the intestine to the product, the intestinal organoids were treated for 2 days with 0.5 or 0.25 mg/mL OA+EO and either uninfected or infected with Salmonella and bacterial load in the organoids was quantified at 3 hours post infection. The bacteria were also treated with OA+EO for 1 day prior to challenge of the organoids to mimic intestinal exposure. The treatment of the organoids with OA+EO resulted in a significant decrease in the bacterial load compared to untreated infected organoids. The expression of 88 innate immune genes was investigated using a high throughput qPCR array, measuring the expression of 88 innate immune genes. Salmonella invasion of the untreated intestinal organoids resulted in a significant increase in the expression of inflammatory cytokine and chemokines as well as genes involved in intracellular signalling. In contrast, when the organoids were treated with OA+EO and challenged with Salmonella, the inflammatory responses were significantly downregulated. The kinome array data suggested decreased phosphorylation elicited by the OA+EO with Salmonella in agreement with the gene expression data sets. This study demonstrates that the in vitro chicken intestinal organoids are a new tool to measure the effect of the feed additives in a bacterial challenge model by measuring innate immune and protein kinases responses

Facilitators and barriers to the uptake of COVID-19 vaccine precaution dose among adult population: qualitative analysis across six different states of India

IntroductionIndia launched the COVID-19 vaccination drive on 16th January 2021 by vaccinating the adult population above 18 years of age. This was followed by the introduction of an additional precaution dose. As on 18th October 2022, 1,02,66,96,808 (1.02 Billion) first dose and 94, 95, 39,516 (949 Million) second doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered. However, when compared to the uptake of the primary doses, the precaution dose uptake lagged behind with only 21,75, 12,721 (217 million) doses administered. Even though, the uptake of the primary doses remained optimal, irrespective of different interventions by the Government of India, the uptake of the precaution dose remained poor. In this context, the Ministry of Health &amp; Family Welfare wanted to understand the facilitators and Barriers for precaution dose uptake among adults so that future immunization campaigns could address these issues.MethodsAn exploratory qualitative study was conducted to assess the facilitators and barriers for COVID-19 precaution dose uptake at community level across 6 different states in India. From each of the states, two districts with the highest and lowest rates of COVID-19 vaccine precaution dose uptake were selected. In each of these districts, 2 block Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), one with high and one with low uptake were identified. Within these block PHCs, a PHC field area with high and low precaution dose uptakes was identified. From the identified sites a minimum of four IDIs, four FGDs were conducted among the community members. KIIs of the State Immunization Officers, District Immunisation Officers, PHC Medical Officers, healthcare workers like Accredited Social Health Activist/Auxiliary Nurse Midwife were also conducted. The data was audio recorded and it was transcribed, translated and analysed using framework approach.ResultsIt was observed that rise in COVID-19 cases prompted the community to take the precaution dose, this along with the cost of hospitalization and the number of productive days being lost as a result of being infected resulted in vaccine uptake. The fear of non-availability of COVID-19 vaccines latter on also prompted people for vaccine uptake. While the barriers were, poor accessibility to vaccination centers, long hours of travel, poor road connectivity and lack of transportation facilities. However, the most prominent barriers observed across all study sites was that a sense of pandemic fatigue and complacency had developed both among the providers as well as the beneficiaries. Other barriers include differences in vaccination schedules and longer duration between the primary doses of some vaccines. Media was identified to be both a barrier and facilitator for Covid-19 Precaution dose uptake. Even though media played an important role in disseminating information in the beginning of the campaign, it was soon followed by the circulation of both misinformation and disinformation.DiscussionThe study identified that dissemination of accurate information and community involvement at each stage of planning and implementation are crucial for the success of any campaign. Efforts should be constantly made to address and re-invent strategies that will be most suitable for the needs of the community. Therefore, in order to ensure successful vaccination campaigns, it is crucial that along with political will it is also important to have a decentralized approach with inter-sectoral coordination with different stakeholders such as healthcare workers, community members and the different departments such as the local self-governments, education department, law &amp; order department etc. These lessons learnt from COVID-19 vaccination campaigns must not be forgotten and must be applied in future vaccination campaigns and while framing public health policies

Psychosocial interventions for supporting women to stop smoking in pregnancy

Background: Tobacco smoking remains one of the few preventable factors associated with complications in pregnancy, and has serious long-term implications for women and babies. Smoking in pregnancy is decreasing in high-income countries, but is strongly associated with poverty and is increasing in low- to middle-income countries. Objectives: To assess the effects of smoking cessation interventions during pregnancy on smoking behaviour and perinatal health outcomes. Search methods: In this sixth update, we searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (13 November 2015), checked reference lists of retrieved studies and contacted trial authors. Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials, cluster-randomised trials, and quasi-randomised controlled trials of psychosocial smoking cessation interventions during pregnancy. Data collection and analysis: Two review authors independently assessed trials for inclusion and trial quality, and extracted data. Direct comparisons were conducted in RevMan, with meta-regression conducted in STATA 14. Main results: The overall quality of evidence was moderate to high, with reductions in confidence due to imprecision and heterogeneity for some outcomes. One hundred and two trials with 120 intervention arms (studies) were included, with 88 trials (involving over 28,000 women) providing data on smoking abstinence in late pregnancy. Interventions were categorised as counselling, health education, feedback, incentives, social support, exercise and dissemination. In separate comparisons, there is high-quality evidence that counselling increased smoking cessation in late pregnancy compared with usual care (30 studies; average risk ratio (RR) 1.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.19 to 1.73) and less intensive interventions (18 studies; average RR 1.25, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.47). There was uncertainty whether counselling increased the chance of smoking cessation when provided as one component of a broader maternal health intervention or comparing one type of counselling with another. In studies comparing counselling and usual care (largest comparison), it was unclear whether interventions prevented smoking relapse among women who had stopped smoking spontaneously in early pregnancy. However, a clear effect was seen in smoking abstinence at zero to five months postpartum (11 studies; average RR 1.59, 95% CI 1.26 to 2.01) and 12 to 17 months (two studies, average RR 2.20, 95% CI 1.23 to 3.96), with a borderline effect at six to 11 months (six studies; average RR 1.33, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.77). In other comparisons, the effect was unclear for most secondary outcomes, but sample sizes were small. Evidence suggests a borderline effect of health education compared with usual care (five studies; average RR 1.59, 95% CI 0.99 to 2.55), but the quality was downgraded to moderate as the effect was unclear when compared with less intensive interventions (four studies; average RR 1.20, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.70), alternative interventions (one study; RR 1.88, 95% CI 0.19 to 18.60), or when smoking cessation health education was provided as one component of a broader maternal health intervention. There was evidence feedback increased smoking cessation when compared with usual care and provided in conjunction with other strategies, such as counselling (average RR 4.39, 95% CI 1.89 to 10.21), but the confidence in the quality of evidence was downgraded to moderate as this was based on only two studies and the effect was uncertain when feedback was compared to less intensive interventions (three studies; average RR 1.29, 95% CI 0.75 to 2.20). High-quality evidence suggests incentive-based interventions are effective when compared with an alternative (non-contingent incentive) intervention (four studies; RR 2.36, 95% CI 1.36 to 4.09). However pooled effects were not calculable for comparisons with usual care or less intensive interventions (substantial heterogeneity, I2 = 93%). High-quality evidence suggests the effect is unclear in social support interventions provided by peers (six studies; average RR 1.42, 95% CI 0.98 to 2.07), in a single trial of support provided by partners, or when social support for smoking cessation was provided as part of a broader intervention to improve maternal health. The effect was unclear in single interventions of exercise compared to usual care (RR 1.20, 95% CI 0.72 to 2.01) and dissemination of counselling (RR 1.63, 95% CI 0.62 to 4.32). Importantly, high-quality evidence from pooled results demonstrated that women who received psychosocial interventions had a 17% reduction in infants born with low birthweight, a significantly higher mean birthweight (mean difference (MD) 55.60 g, 95% CI 29.82 to 81.38 g higher) and a 22% reduction in neonatal intensive care admissions. However the difference in preterm births and stillbirths was unclear. There did not appear to be adverse psychological effects from the interventions. The intensity of support women received in both the intervention and comparison groups has increased over time, with higher-intensity interventions more likely to have higher-intensity comparisons, potentially explaining why no clear differences were seen with increasing intervention intensity in meta-regression analyses. Among meta-regression analyses: studies classified as having 'unclear' implementation and unequal baseline characteristics were less effective than other studies. There was no clear difference between trials implemented by researchers (efficacy studies), and those implemented by routine pregnancy staff (effectiveness studies), however there was uncertainty in the effectiveness of counselling in four dissemination trials where the focus on the intervention was at an organisational level. The pooled effects were similar in interventions provided for women classified as having predominantly low socio-economic status, compared to other women. The effect was significant in interventions among women from ethnic minority groups; however not among indigenous women. There were similar effect sizes in trials with biochemically validated smoking abstinence and those with self-reported abstinence. It was unclear whether incorporating use of self-help manuals or telephone support increased the effectiveness of interventions. Authors' conclusions: Psychosocial interventions to support women to stop smoking in pregnancy can increase the proportion of women who stop smoking in late pregnancy and the proportion of infants born low birthweight. Counselling, feedback and incentives appear to be effective, however the characteristics and context of the interventions should be carefully considered. The effect of health education and social support is less clear. New trials have been published during the preparation of this review and will be included in the next update