Consumer Behavior in Selection of Buying Source of Siddha Medicine in Tamilnadu, India from the Perspective of Age

With the increasing usage of traditional medicines as complementary alternative therapy, possibilities that would ensure its successful integration into the public domain of health care services needs to be evaluated. India is one of the countries with rich traditional knowledge base. Its ethnic ethno-medical practices had paved way for the evolution of several indigenous systems of medicine. Siddha is one of the oldest systems of medicine in India. Siddha holds close association with nature and has been validated in the laboratory of life, even before the advent of formal modern western system of medicine. This paper discusses the interrelations between usage of Sidhha as complementary alternative medicine and its implications on public health care related issues. We explore the impact of age of respondents in the public domain as a criterion in relation to selection of buying source of Siddha medicine in Tamilnadu, India

Current Trends in Usage of Traditional System of Medicine in Tamilnadu, India - From the Perspective of Occupation

Socio-economic parameters have significant impact on consumer’s attitude towards the usage of traditional system of medicine in Tamilnadu, India. Though traditional systems of medicine have made significant contributions towards fulfilling healthcare needs of the people in the past, impacts of modern medicine have been so large that traditional medicine witnessed a dark period in India. While such practices are common in the rural/ remote areas, off late, change in the trend with respect to the usage of Siddha medicine as complementary alternative therapy among urban population has been observed. Present study aims to evaluate the resurgence of interest in Siddha medicine among the people working in different sectors (occupation) in Tamilnadu, India

Livelihood gains and ecological costs of NTFP dependence: assessing the roles of dependence, ecological knowledge and market structure in three contrasting human and ecological settings in south India

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) constitute the single largest determinant of livelihoods for scores of forest fringe communities and poor people in the tropics. In India over 50 million people are believed to be directly dependent upon NTFPs for their subsistence. However, such human dependence on NTFPs for livelihood gains (win) has most frequently been at a certain ecological cost (lose). If livelihoods are to be maintained, the existing ‘win-lose’ settings have to be steered to a ‘win-win’ mode, otherwise, there could be severe erosion of the biological resources and loss of livelihoods (‘lose-lose’). Examining the dependence of forest fringe communities on NTFPs at three sites in south India with contrasting human and ecological settings, three key factors (extent of dependence on NTFPs, indigenous ecological knowledge and market organization) are likely to constrain reaching the win-win situation. How these factors shape the ecological cost of harvesting NTFPs at the three sites is examined. Within the parameter space of these factors, it is possible to predict outcomes and associations that will conform to win-win or win-lose situations. Empirical data derived from the three study sites demonstrate the causality of the observed associations. The key for long-term livelihood gains lies in reducing the ecological cost. Certain interventions and recommendations that could optimize the balance between livelihood gains and ecological cost are proposed

Wound Healing Ethnomedicinal Plants Popular among the Malayali Tribes in Vattal Hills, Dharmapuri, TN, India

Healing of chronic lower extremity wounds is a global problem, especially in developing countries where traditional medicine is often used by the people in remote places. India has a rich tradition of plant based knowledge pertinent to healthcare. A survey of ethnomedicinal plant species used by Malayali’s to heal cut/ wounds in Vattal Hills of Dharmapuri was made. A large number of plants/ extracts/ decoctions/ pastes are used by tribals to heal wounds, cuts and burns. In the present study, an attempt has been made to document ethnobotanical knowledge base and methods employed by Malayali’s for treatment of cut/ wounds. A large number of ethnomedicinal plants used by the Malayali’s have not been validated for wound healing potential. The present investigation resulted in the identification of 82 medicinal plant species distributed across 39 families that are used by Malayali’s to heal cut/ wounds. This study is an attempt to gather the information on the existing ethnobotanical knowledge base and document the traditional claims toward the development of safe of effective herbal drugs for cut/ wounds. Results of the study is organized in table form depicting the botanical name, family, vernacular name and habit with a brief note on plant parts used and method of administration

Single Molecule Cluster Analysis dissects splicing pathway conformational dynamics

The spliceosome is the dynamic RNA-protein machine responsible for faithfully splicing introns from precursor messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs). Many of the dynamic processes required for the proper assembly, catalytic activation, and disassembly of the spliceosome as it acts on its pre-mRNA substrate remain poorly understood, a challenge that persists for many biomolecular machines. Here, we developed a fluorescence-based Single Molecule Cluster Analysis (SiMCAn) tool to dissect the manifold conformational dynamics of a pre-mRNA through the splicing cycle. By clustering common dynamic behaviors derived from selectively blocked splicing reactions, SiMCAn was able to identify signature conformations and dynamic behaviors of multiple ATP-dependent intermediates. In addition, it identified a conformation adopted late in splicing by a 3′ splice site mutant, invoking a mechanism for substrate proofreading. SiMCAn presents a novel framework for interpreting complex single molecule behaviors that should prove widely useful for the comprehensive analysis of a plethora of dynamic cellular machines

First-in-class small molecule potentiators of cancer virotherapy

The use of engineered viral strains such as gene therapy vectors and oncolytic viruses (OV) to selectively destroy cancer cells is poised to make a major impact in the clinic and revolutionize cancer therapy. In particular, several studies have shown that OV therapy is safe and well tolerated in humans and can infect a broad range of cancers. Yet in clinical studies OV therapy has highly variable response rates. The heterogeneous nature of tumors is widely accepted to be a major obstacle for OV therapeutics and highlights a need for strategies to improve viral replication efficacy. Here, we describe the development of a new class of small molecules for selectively enhancing OV replication in cancer tissue. Medicinal chemistry studies led to the identification of compounds that enhance multiple OVs and gene therapy vectors. Lead compounds increase OV growth up to 2000-fold in vitro and demonstrate remarkable selectivity for cancer cells over normal tissue ex vivo and in vivo. These small molecules also demonstrate enhanced stability with reduced electrophilicity and are highly tolerated in animals. This pharmacoviral approach expands the scope of OVs to include resistant tumors, further potentiating this transformative therapy. It is easily foreseeable that this approach can be applied to therapeutically enhance other attenuated viral vectors

Enhancement of psychomotor skills in children with autism spectrum disorder by employing a mechatronic training kit

Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in children has been increasing over the years. These children, when compared to typically growing children, face challenges in leading a day-to-day life. Other than the social interactions, communication and cognitive skills, psychomotor skill deficits are also found in them. This paper focuses on enhancement of psychomotor skills in children with ASD by employing a mechatronic training kit. Training using this kit aims at developing skills like ‘palmar grasp’, ‘wrist rotation’ and ‘eye-hand coordination’. Trials were conducted with six children with autism aged between four and nine years. Significant improvements were seen in these children both in skills and in behaviour after the training. Thus, teaching psychomotor skills to children with autism using the newly developed mechatronic door training kit is found to be working and the results are encouraging

Taxane chemotherapy induces stromal injury that leads to breast cancer dormancy escape.

A major cause of cancer recurrence following chemotherapy is cancer dormancy escape. Taxane-based chemotherapy is standard of care in breast cancer treatment aimed at killing proliferating cancer cells. Here, we demonstrate that docetaxel injures stromal cells, which release protumor cytokines, IL-6 and granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), that in turn invoke dormant cancer outgrowth both in vitro and in vivo. Single-cell transcriptomics shows a reprogramming of awakened cancer cells including several survival cues such as stemness, chemoresistance in a tumor stromal organoid (TSO) model, as well as an altered tumor microenvironment (TME) with augmented protumor immune signaling in a syngeneic mouse breast cancer model. IL-6 plays a role in cancer cell proliferation, whereas G-CSF mediates tumor immunosuppression. Pathways and differential expression analyses confirmed MEK as the key regulatory molecule in cancer cell outgrowth and survival. Antibody targeting of protumor cytokines (IL-6, G-CSF) or inhibition of cytokine signaling via MEK/ERK pathway using selumetinib prior to docetaxel treatment prevented cancer dormancy outgrowth suggesting a novel therapeutic strategy to prevent cancer recurrence