Fostering Barrier Free Access for Children with Special Needs in India

Barrier Free Access is particularly relevant in the context of children with special needs because they have variety of needs which need to be addressed. The paper will focus on access to the physical environment as well as access to the curriculum and the teaching environment of children with special needs. The various Acts and Policies emphasizing on the provision of barrier free environment would also be discussed. Secondary sources like books, Journals, Articles and websites have been used to collect the information. The adoption of inclusive approaches in education is imperative so that the goal of ‘Education for All’ can be achieved. It serves as the catalyst for smarter practices and broader perspectives and to improve quality of life of special children. The paper will put forward the strategies for the Institutional planners to help them in developing some mechanism for promoting accessibility and full participation of children with special needs

Analysis of Variations in Speed for Different Mobility Models in Ad Hoc Networking

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Gold nanoparticles: A promising therapeutic approach

Nanotechnology is rapidly advancing and will leave no field untouched by its ground breaking innovations. Nanoparticles are molecules with a diameter ranging from 10-100 nm. Nanotechnology has promising biomedical applications and most noteworthy amongst them are noble metal particles. For instance, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) provide a unique blend of physical and optical properties, chemical inertness, and high surface to volume ratio. They can be synthesized as well as functionalised to support various ligands on their surface. Their surface functionalization and diverse properties render the gold nanoparticles highly useful for drug delivery and gene carrier for therapeutic purposes and as molecular probes for disease diagnosis. The foundation for the usage of AuNPs in therapeutics and diagnosis was laid by the ancient studies done with ruby gold for curing diseases in middle ages. Presently, AuNPs have become available in different types such as spheres, rods, shells, cages and SERS particles which vary in shape, size and physical properties. The biomedical applications of these particles include drug and gene delivery, cancer diagnosis and therapy, determination of biological molecules and microorganisms, detection of disease etiology, immunoassay, enzyme immobilization, etc. Overall, the focus of this review is to highlight that AuNPs provide an excellent platform for the discovery of new therapies, cure for certain cancers, molecular probe for diagnostic purposes, as well as gene carriers and drug delivery vehicles. Biomed Rev 2015; 26: 23-36.Key words: gold nanoparticles, cancer treatment, drug delivery system, gold nanocarrier therap

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS DUE TO ACADEMIC STRESS AMONG FIRST YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS OF GOVERNMENT MEDICAL COLLEGE AND HOSPITAL OF PATIALA

Objective: Numerous studies have shown that mental distress is a common problem among medical students. The impact of medical student psychological distress on academic performance has not been systematically examined. This study provided an opportunity to explore problems faced by struggling undergraduate 1st-year medical students and the influence of demographics and academic distress on these rates of distress.to assess the level of mental distress and associated factors among medical students. Methods: The study was conducted on medical students at Government Medical College and Hospital, Patiala. Data were collected from 154 consenting 1st-year medical students using a three-part structured, self-administered questionnaire (Part I: Background Data, Part II: The 20- item Self Reporting Questionnaire [SRQ-20] English version, and Part III: Academic Stress Score [ASS-40]). Results: Analysis shows that 35.06% of the sample is experiencing high levels of psychological distress. Results further suggests that psychological distress is related to perceived health and academic stress. There were no significant differences in gender and other demographic variables. Conclusions: The study shows that the prevalence of mental distress among medical students at medical college is higher than that reported by students of other streams. Continued supportive interventions for medical students and proper counseling and mentorship programs are highly recommended

Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering-Based Immunoassay Technologies for Detection of Disease Biomarkers

Detection of biomarkers is of vital importance in disease detection, management, and monitoring of therapeutic efficacy. Extensive efforts have been devoted to the development of novel diagnostic methods that detect and quantify biomarkers with higher sensitivity and reliability, contributing to better disease diagnosis and prognosis. When it comes to such devastating diseases as cancer, these novel powerful methods allow for disease staging as well as detection of cancer at very early stages. Over the past decade, there have been some advances in the development of platforms for biomarker detection of diseases. The main focus has recently shifted to the development of simple and reliable diagnostic tests that are inexpensive, accurate, and can follow a patient’s disease progression and therapy response. The individualized approach in biomarker detection has been also emphasized with detection of multiple biomarkers in body fluids such as blood and urine. This review article covers the developments in Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) and related technologies with the primary focus on immunoassays. Limitations and advantages of the SERS-based immunoassay platform are discussed. The article thoroughly describes all components of the SERS immunoassay and highlights the superior capabilities of SERS readout strategy such as high sensitivity and simultaneous detection of a multitude of biomarkers. Finally, it introduces recently developed strategies for in vivo biomarker detection using SERS

Evaluation of rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri Lush.)as rootstock for salinity tolerance at seedling stage under in vitro conditions

In vitro approach was adopted to study the effect of salinity on survival and growth of rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri Lush.) seeds. North-West (Punjab) part of India has been facing a major problem of soil salinity for citrus orchards. Therefore, it is logical to study the salinity tolerance of common citrus rootstock, rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri Lush.), grown in the region. The seeds were treated with nine different doses of sodium salt. In all the treatments, leaves of rough lemon seedlings showed severe injury symptoms of chlorosis and necrosis while the seeds cultured in control did not show any injury. There was a significant decrease in seed germination, seedling height, internodal length, and subsequently plant weight with increasing concentration of salt. In contrast to the above characteristics, the length of primary roots increased proportionally with the increase in salt concentration in the culture media. As under stress conditions, the in vitro grown seedlings tend to increase the root length for its survival. In comparison to the control, salt treatments showed increased level of Na+ and Cl- ions in the seedlings and also resulted in a decrease of K+/Na+ ratio. Tolerance index was found minimum (100) in control and maximum in 154mM NaCl treatments after 4 and 8 weeks.Key words: Citrus, salt, sensitivity, chlorosis, sodium chloride

Identification of Proteins Secreted by Malaria Parasite into Erythrocyte using SVM and PSSM profiles

Background: Malaria parasite secretes various proteins in infected RBC for its growth and survival. Thus identification of these secretory proteins is important for developing vaccine/drug against malaria. The existing motif-based methods have got limited success due to lack of universal motif in all secretory proteins of malaria parasite. Results: In this study a systematic attempt has been made to develop a general method for predicting secretory proteins of malaria parasite. All models were trained and tested on a non-redundant dataset of 252 secretory and 252 non-secretory proteins. We developed SVM models and achieved maximum MCC 0.72 with 85.65% accuracy and MCC 0.74 with 86.45% accuracy using amino acid and dipeptide composition respectively. SVM models were developed using split-amino acid and split-dipeptide composition and achieved maximum MCC 0.74 with 86.40% accuracy and MCC 0.77 with accuracy 88.22% respectively. In this study, for the first time PSSM profiles obtained from PSI-BLAST, have been used for predicting secretory proteins. We achieved maximum MCC 0.86 with 92.66% accuracy using PSSM based SVM model. All models developed in this study were evaluated using 5-fold cross-validation technique. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that secretory proteins have different residue composition than non-secretory proteins. Thus, it is possible to predict secretory proteins from its residue composition-using machine learning technique. The multiple sequence alignment provides more information than sequence itself. Thus performance of method based on PSSM profile is more accurate than method based on sequence composition. A web server PSEApred has been developed for predicting secretory proteins of malaria parasites,the URL can be found in the Availability and requirements section

Emerging trends for radioimmunotherapy in solid tumors.

Due to its ability to target both known and occult lesions, radioimmunotherapy (RIT) is an attractive therapeutic modality for solid tumors. Poor tumor uptake and undesirable pharmacokinetics, however, have precluded the administration of radioimmunoconjugates at therapeutically relevant doses thereby limiting the clinical utility of RIT. In solid tumors, efficacy of RIT is further compromised by heterogeneities in blood flow, tumor stroma, expression of target antigens and radioresistance. As a result significant efforts have been invested toward developing strategies to overcome these impediments. Further, there is an emerging interest in exploiting short-range, high energy α-particle emitting radionuclides for the eradication of minimal residual and micrometastatic disease. As a result several modalities for localized therapy and models of minimal disease have been developed for preclinical evaluation. This review provides a brief update on the recent efforts toward improving the efficacy of RIT for solid tumors, and development of RIT strategies for minimal disease associated with solid tumors. Further, some of promising approaches to improve tumor targeting, which showed promise in the past, but have now been ignored are also discussed

A DESCRIPTIVE REVIEW ON VARIOUS LIPIDS AND TECHNIQUES USED IN FORMULATION OF SOLID LIPID NANOPARTICLES

Solid lipid nanopaticles (SLNs) emerged in early 1990s as a next-generation drug delivery system, an alternative to traditional colloidal carriers like liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, emulsions etc. Their size range is between 1 to 1000 nm and their biodegradable and bioacceptable nature make them less toxic and thus better suited to patients. SLNs have got potential applications in pharmaceutical field, cosmetics, clinical medicine and other allied sciences. Presently, formulation scientists have been focusing on SLNs as colloidal drug carriers for incorporating hydrophilic as well as lipophilic drugs. The ability to incorporate drugs into nanocarriers offers a new prototype in drug delivery which can be used for drug targeting. They hold great promise for reaching the goal of controlled and site specific drug delivery. Furthermore, SLNs have got advantage of being introduced in the body by oral, parenteral and topical routes. So the present review attempts to enlighten various lipids used in SLNs, manufacturing techniques as well as the potential applications through various routes for a variety of disorders. Furthermore, the manuscript also focuses on the fate of these lipids (constituents of SLNs) in the body and their way out (i.e. elimination)