Digital hijras: Intersex/ tions of Postcolonial and Queer Digital Humanities

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Common Fixed Points of Weakly Reciprocally Continuous Maps using a Gauge Function

The aim of the present paper is to obtain a common fixed point theorem by employing the recently introduced notion of weak reciprocal continuity. We demonstrate that weak reciprocal continuity ensures the existence of fixed points under contractive conditions which otherwise do not ensure the existence of fixed points. Our result generalize and extend several well-known fixed point theorems due to Boyd and Wong (1969), Jungck(1976), Pant (1994) and Pathak et al (1997). Keywords: Fixed point theorems, compatible maps, A-compatible maps, T-compatible maps, reciprocal continuity, weak reciprocal continuit

Palynological diversity of highly medicinal rare, endangered, and threatened plants from Western Himalaya, India

The present study investigated the palynological diversity of highly medicinal Rare, Endangered, and Threatened (RET) plant species dwelling in higher altitudes of Western Himalaya, India. The pollen morphology of 32 plant species covering 29 genera, 23 families, and 18 orders of Angiosperms was analyzed by Light Microscopy (LM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The families of the studied plant species have been arranged and discussed following the evolutionary sequence as per the updated version of Angiosperm Phylogeny Group ІV. The studied pollen characters were found to be helpful in the delimitation of taxa at the species level. In the studied monocots, the species belonging to order Zingiberales, Asparagales, and Liliales followed the general trend of having primitive inaperturate to advance monosulcate pollen except for Alismatales which had inaperturate pollen and placed after the orders mentioned above in the APG ІV classification system. The pollen aperture of the eudicot group in the present study followed the evolutionary pattern from tricolpate to tricolporate and triporate, which corroborated previous reports. All the investigated species of both monocot and eudicot groups had monad pollen units suggesting their primitiveness on the evolutionary scale except for the Rhododendron companulatum (Ericales), having evolutionarily advanced tetrad arrangement. The current study found primitive exine ornamentation in Ranunculales to advance in Asterales, Lamiales, Gentianales, and Boraginales and confirms the results of the previous studies. The data on the pollen morphological features of the studied species generated in the present study will help understand these important high-altitude plant species' reproductive biology and conservation aspects

Exposure of Human Lung Cells to Tobacco Smoke Condensate Inhibits the Nucleotide Excision Repair Pathway

Exposure to tobacco smoke is the number one risk factor for lung cancer. Although the DNA damaging properties of tobacco smoke have been well documented, relatively few studies have examined its effect on DNA repair pathways. This is especially true for the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway which recognizes and removes many structurally diverse DNA lesions, including those introduced by chemical carcinogens present in tobacco smoke. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of tobacco smoke on NER in human lung cells. We studied the effect of cigarette smoke condensate (CSC), a surrogate for tobacco smoke, on the NER pathway in two different human lung cell lines; IMR-90 lung fibroblasts and BEAS-2B bronchial epithelial cells. To measure NER, we employed a slot-blot assay to quantify the introduction and removal of UV light-induced 6–4 photoproducts and cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers. We find a dose-dependent inhibition of 6–4 photoproduct repair in both cell lines treated with CSC. Additionally, the impact of CSC on the abundance of various NER proteins and their respective RNAs was investigated. The abundance of XPC protein, which is required for functional NER, is significantly reduced by treatment with CSC while the abundance of XPA protein, also required for NER, is unaffected. Both XPC and XPA RNA levels are modestly reduced by CSC treatment. Finally, treatment of cells with MG-132 abrogates the reduction in the abundance of XPC protein produced by treatment with CSC, suggesting that CSC enhances proteasome-dependent turnover of the protein that is mediated by ubiquitination. Together, these findings indicate that tobacco smoke can inhibit the same DNA repair pathway that is also essential for the removal of some of the carcinogenic DNA damage introduced by smoke itself, increasing the DNA damage burden of cells exposed to tobacco smoke

Regge Calculus in Teleparallel Gravity

In the context of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity, the Weitzenbock manifold is considered as the limit of a suitable sequence of discrete lattices composed of an increasing number of smaller an smaller simplices, where the interior of each simplex (Delaunay lattice) is assumed to be flat. The link lengths between any pair of vertices serve as independent variables, so that torsion turns out to be localized in the two dimensional hypersurfaces (dislocation triangle, or hinge) of the lattice. Assuming that a vector undergoes a dislocation in relation to its initial position as it is parallel transported along the perimeter of the dual lattice (Voronoi polygon), we obtain the discrete analogue of the teleparallel action, as well as the corresponding simplicial vacuum field equations.Comment: Latex, 10 pages, 2 eps figures, to appear in Class. Quant. Gra

Unusual premonsoon eddy and Kelvin wave activities in the Bay of Bengal during Indian Summer monsoon deficit in June 2009 and 2012

An investigation of the eddy and coastal Kelvin wave activities in the Bay of Bengal (BoB) is carried out during premonsoon season in two years of Indian summer monsoon deficit in June (2009 and 2012), occurred in the recent warming hiatus period. Using altimeter observations, our study reveals that over the northern BoB cyclonic eddy kinetic energy is reduced by 35% and 50% from the climatology during premonsoon seasons in 2009 and 2012, respectively, while the cyclonic eddy area is reduced by 18% and 24%, respectively. A concurrent reduction is observed in the first upwelling Kelvin wave (uKW) activities in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean as well as in the coastal BoB for these years. The reduction in the generation of the first uKW in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean is attributed to the westerly wind anomalies in January-March of these years. Additionally, meridional wind stress anomalies during March-April in these years are found to be southerly, causing anomalous coastal downwelling in the eastern rim of BoB. This coastal downwelling blocks the propagation of the first uKW. The decrease in the first uKW activities in the coastal waveguide of the BoB reduces the radiation of upwelling Rossby waves, thereby decreasing the cyclonic eddy activities in the northern BoB. The results from this letter could be helpful for further understanding of upper ocean mixing processes in the BoB during monsoon deficit years

Disclination vortices in elastic media

The vortex-like solutions are studied in the framework of the gauge model of disclinations in elastic continuum. A complete set of model equations with disclination driven dislocations taken into account is considered. Within the linear approximation an exact solution for a low-angle wedge disclination is found to be independent from the coupling constants of the theory. As a result, no additional dimensional characteristics (like the core radius of the defect) are involved. The situation changes drastically for 2\pi vortices where two characteristic lengths, l_\phi and l_W, become of importance. The asymptotical behaviour of the solutions for both singular and nonsingular 2\pi vortices is studied. Forces between pairs of vortices are calculated.Comment: 13 pages, published versio

Unusual Premonsoon Eddy and Kelvin Wave Activities in the Bay of Bengal During Indian Summer Monsoon Deficit in June 2009 and 2012

An investigation of the eddy and coastal Kelvin wave activities in the Bay of Bengal (BoB) is carried out during premonsoon season in two years of Indian summer monsoon deficit in June (2009 and 2012), occurred in the recent warming hiatus period. Using altimeter observations, our study reveals that over the northern BoB cyclonic eddy kinetic energy is reduced by 35% and 50% from the climatology during premonsoon seasons in 2009 and 2012, respectively, while the cyclonic eddy area is reduced by 18% and 24%, respectively. A concurrent reduction is observed in the first upwelling Kelvin wave (uKW) activities in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean as well as in the coastal BoB for these years. The reduction in the generation of the first uKW in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean is attributed to the westerly wind anomalies in January-March of these years. Additionally, meridional wind stress anomalies during March-April in these years are found to be southerly, causing anomalous coastal downwelling in the eastern rim of BoB. This coastal downwelling blocks the propagation of the first uKW. The decrease in the first uKW activities in the coastal waveguide of the BoB reduces the radiation of upwelling Rossby waves, thereby decreasing the cyclonic eddy activities in the northern BoB. The results from this letter could be helpful for further understanding of upper ocean mixing processes in the BoB during monsoon deficit years

Evaluation of the response rate of chemo-radiation and brachytherapy in patients with locally advanced carcinoma cervix in a tertiary care center

Background: Incidence and mortality estimates are used to measure the burden of cancer in a population and survival estimates are ideal for evaluating the outcome of cancer control activities. Survival studies evaluate the quality and quantity of life of a group of patients after diagnosing the disease. The patient survival after the diagnosis of cervical cancer is indirectly influenced by socio-economic factors. The present study was carried out with an aim to evaluate the success rate of chemo-radiation followed by brachytherapy to the patients of locally advanced carcinoma (Ca.) cervix in a tertiary care center.Methods: All cases were staged according to the International Federation of Gynaecologists and Oncologists (FIGO) staging system. To illustrate the observed survival of cancer patients Kaplan-Meier curve was plotted. All the patients, except one, completed chemo-radiation and were retrospectively analyzed for the presence of local residual disease, local recurrence, distant metastases, radiation reactions, disease-free survival, and overall survival.Results: There were 22 patients of Carcinoma cervix reported in the radiation oncology department in the year 2018 and 2019. The overall treatment time ranged from 30 days to 178 days, with a median of 63 days. All the patients had a complete response after the treatment. The median follow-up time for all the patients was 15 months. Three patients had a metastatic recurrence and one patient developed distant metastases as well as local recurrence. Overall survival rate was 100% while the disease-free survival rate was 81.82%.Conclusions: The response to chemo-radiation in the treatment of locally advanced Carcinoma cervix is comparable to historic data and is well tolerated