Reinventing Marginalized Voices: A Study of Volga’s The Liberation of Sita and Yashodhara

The corpus of Indian women’s literature has the power to define the borders of community, class, and gender. Challenging the existing patriarchal set-up, writers from all corners of the nation speak not only to subvert the patriarchy but also to claim their authority and bring subdued voices to the fore. In Volga’s gynocentric retellings of the ancient epic “Ramayana,” Volga’s The Liberation of Sita and Yashodhara deconstruct the traditional epic by recentering female characters that were marginalized in the original. The Liberation of Sita and Yashodhara tell the story of Buddha’s wife after his unexpected departure, and they exemplify an active remaking of the past, a revision, and a reinvention of tradition. Thus, the author creates a female collective by representing ancient tradition from alternative points of view and networking with women across ages and generations. This paper interprets the depiction of the female characters in the select texts not merely as exalted figures but as bold voices. The female characters of the epic are victims of patriarchy, yet they are not depicted as mere sufferers. The author has given them a strong voice and dignity, narrating words of wisdom which are the result of their experiences of struggle with pain. Hence, the study shows Volga’s evolved understanding of feminism as more than a simple conflict between men and women, but a larger issue that cannot simply be reduced to binaries

Identification of differentially expressed transcription factors and dissecting the role of DREAM complex associated components in cellular senescence

Cellular senescence is a stable cell cycle arrest that normal cells undergo in response to a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic stimuli. Being implicated in ageing and age-related diseases including cancer it is of great importance to elucidate the signalling pathways involved in regulating the senescent state. The p53/p21WAF1 and p16INK4A/pRB tumour suppressor pathways have clearly been implicated in senescence, but the critical downstream targets of these pathways are unclear. Transcription factors (TFs) regulate gene expression at different stages of embryonic development and are key to the establishment and maintenance of specific cell fates. My primary goal is to identify TFs that act downstream of these pathways. To identify the TFs that act downstream of the p53/p21WAF1 and p16INK4A/pRB pathways, the previously identified list of differentially expressed transcripts were overlaid with known sequence-specific DNA binding factors. The list was then refined by examining what happens to their expression, when senescence was bypassed and if the change in expression upon senescence is inversely correlated with expression in cancer. This identified 10 upregulated and 74 downregulated TFs. Their ability to directly bypass senescence was examined in the conditionally immortalized fibroblasts by lentivirus mediated RNA silencing or ectopic expression. The MuvB complex (LIN9, LIN37, LIN52, LIN54 and RBBP4) associates with the RB-like proteins, DP1 and E2F4 to form a repressive complex, DREAM, that induces quiescence. When cells re-enter the cell cycle, MuvB dissociates from DREAM and sequentially recruits MYBL2 (B-MYB) and FOXM1 to promote cell cycle progression. Reconstitution of B-MYB-MuvB-FOXM1 i.e. MMB-FOXM1 complex demonstrated that it can bypass senescence under very stringent conditions and that LIN52, FOXM1 and B-MYB were the crucial components. Moreover, this required non-phosphorylated LIN52, suggesting a role for phosphorylated LIN52 and the DREAM complex in inducing senescence, which is not very widely studied. Further reconstitution experiments using a cocktail of TFs targeting the up- and down-regulated factors has revealed the presence of synergy indicating that there are other key TFs which remain to be identified. This study has enabled us to identify TFs that play a causal role in senescence. This opens the door to identifying their downstream targets and lays the foundation for a better understanding of the pathways underlying cellular senescence and its therapeutic intervention in cancer and age-related diseases

Tumour suppressors and cellular senescence

No abstract available

Magnesium Sulfate and Fentanyl for Facilitating Awake Fiberoptic Nasotracheal Intubation: A Randomized Study

Background: Various drugs have been used to facilitate awake fiberoptic intubation (AFOI). Although fentanyl is probably used most frequently, magnesium sulfate can provide muscle relaxation without respiratory depression and attenuate hemodynamic responses. Methods: We randomly allocated 20 patients of both sexes, aged 18 - 60 years, and ASA status I-II to receive fentanyl 2 g/kg (group F) ormagnesiumsulfate 45mg/kg (groupM) before AFOI. The intubating conditionswere evaluated by Ramsay sedation score (RSS), cough score, post-intubation score, additional topicalization requirement, and hemodynamic response. Oxygen desaturation, airway morbidity, recall of procedure, and the patient’s willingness to return for the same kind of anesthesia, if required, were also studied. Statistical analyses were done using SPSS V. 17.0 software. Numerical data were analyzed using independent and paired t-tests and categorical data using the chi-square test. P values of < 0.05 were considered significant. Results: RSS, cough score, post-intubation score, lignocaine dose, airway-related morbidity, and willingness to undergo the same kindof anesthesia for a secondtimewere comparablebetweenthe twogroups. Bothdrugshadcomparable effectsonhemodynamic response to intubation. However, the incidence of recall of the procedure was significantly lower in group F (P = 0.003). Conclusions: The degree of coughing during fiberoptic bronchoscopy, tolerance of the endotracheal tube after intubation, and the hemodynamic response to intubationwere similar after the administration of either fentanyl 2 g/kg ormagnesiumsulfate 45 mg/kg

Effect of time interval from completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to starting of adjuvant chemotherapy after interval debulking surgery on survival of patients with advanced ovarian cancer

Background: To find the effect of time interval between completion of neo adjuvant chemotherapy to the starting of adjuvant chemotherapy on the RFS and OS of patients with advanced ovarian cancers. Methods: It is a retrospective study of 170 patients with histopathological proven epithelial ovarian cancers who received full treatment (NACT+IDS+POAC) at Gujarat cancer Research Institute, Ahmedabad between 2010- 2016. They were assessed and followed up for maximum 5 year. The time interval was defined as period from the completion of NACT including Interval de-bulking surgery to initiation of chemotherapy. Results: Out of 170 patients, 86 patients (50.5%) received adjuvant chemotherapy within 44 days after neoadjuvant chemotherapy while 84 patients (49.4%) received it after 44 days. There was no significant difference in patient characteristics between these two groups. The shorter and longer TI was having recurrence in 40 (53.48%) and47 (55.55%) patients respectively. Whereas overall survival was 67.44% and 47.61% respectively. Conclusions: Our analysis showed that patients with longer time interval >44 days had poorer recurrence free survival and overall survival in comparison to lesser TI group

Synthesis, structures, nuclease activity, cytotoxicity, DFT and molecular docking studies of two nitrato bridged homodinuclear (Cu-Cu, Zn-Zn) complexes containing 2,2?-bipyridine and a chalcone derivative

Nitrato briged dinuclear complexes of type [Cu2(L)2(bpy)2(NO3)](NO3)·4H2O, 1 and [Zn2(L)2(bpy)2(NO3)](NO3)·4H2O, 2 (L = deprotonated form of free ligand LH, [1-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-3-(9-anthracenyl) propenone; bpy = 2,2′bipyridine] are synthesized and characterized using a battery of physicochemical techniques and X-ray crystallography. A distorted square pyramidal geometry is assigned to them with N2O3 coordination core around the metal ion. The co-ligand L binds the metal ions through its O,O' atoms in anti-syn mode. The metal centers in complexes 1 and 2 are separated via bridging nitrato group at a distance of 6.073 Å and 5.635 Å respectively. Their structures and absorption spectra are supported by the computational studies using density functional theory (DFT) and TD-DFT. Both complexes exhibit nuclease activity and cleave supercoiled (form I) DNA. The complex 1 preferentially binds major groove of DNA and follows an oxidative pathway whereas complex 2 binds with minor groove of DNA via hydrolytic pathway. Both complexes inhibit topoisomerase I relaxation activity with IC50 values of 7 and 35 μM. Molecular docking studies support the groove binding and topoisomerase I binding of the complexes. The complex 1 showed a significant cytotoxicity against HeLa cell lines (a cervical cancer cell lines) in vitro with IC50 value calculated as 2.9 ± 0.021 μM as compared to 28.2 ± 0. 044 μΜ for complex 2. Complex 2 induces the cell apoptosis at a later-stage as compared to complex 1. The cell apoptosis and topoisomerase inhibition by complexes enable them to be potential candidates as future anticancer drugs

Seed nutritional quality in lentil (Lens culinaris) under different moisture regimes

The world’s most challenging environmental issue is climate change. Agricultural productivity and nutritional quality are both substantially threatened by extreme and unpredicted climate events. To develop climate resilient cultivars, stress tolerance along with the grain quality needs to be prioritized. Present study was planned to assess the effect of water limitation on seed quality in lentil, a cool season legume crop. A pot experiment was carried out with 20 diverse lentil genotypes grown under normal (80% field capacity) and limited (25% field capacity) soil moisture. Seed protein, Fe, Zn, phytate, protein and yield were recorded in both the conditions. Seed yield and weight were reduced by 38.9 and 12.1%, respectively, in response to stress. Seed protein, Fe, Zn, its availability as well as antioxidant properties also reduced considerably, while genotype dependent variation was noted with respect to seed size traits. Positive correlation was observed between seed yield and antioxidant activity, seed weight and Zn content and availability in stress. Based on principal component analysis and clustering, IG129185, IC559845, IC599829, IC282863, IC361417, IG334, IC560037, P8114 and L5126 were promising genotypes for seed size, Fe and protein content, while, FLIP-96-51, P3211 and IC398019 were promising for yield, Zn and antioxidant capacity. Identified lentil genotypes can be utilized as trait donors for quality improvement in lentil breedin

Agro-morphological characterization of lentil germplasm of Indian National Genebank and Development of a core set for efficient utilization in lentil improvement programs

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is one of the major cool-season pulse crops worldwide. Its increasing demand as a staple pulse has led to the unlocking of diverse germplasm collections conserved in the genebanks to develop its superior varieties. The Indian National Genebank, housed at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi, India, currently has 2,324 accessions comprising 1,796 indigenous and 528 exotic collections. This study was conducted to unveil the potential of lentil germplasm by assessing its agro-morphological characteristics and diversity, identifying trait-specific germplasm, and developing a core set. The complete germplasm set was characterized for two years, i.e., 2017-2018 and 2018-2019, and data were recorded on 26 agro-morphological traits. High phenotypic variability was observed for nine quantitative and 17 qualitative traits. A core set comprising 170 accessions (137 Indian and 33 exotic) was derived based on the characterization data as well as geographical origin using a heuristic method and PowerCore software. This core set was found to be sufficiently diverse and representative of the entire collection based on the comparison made using Shannon-Weaver diversity indices and χ2 test. These results were further validated by summary statistics. The core set displayed high genetic diversity as evident from a higher coefficient of variance in comparison to the entire set for individual traits and overall Shannon-Weaver diversity indices (entire: 1.054; core: 1.361). In addition, the total variation explained by the first three principal components was higher in the core set (70.69%) than in the entire collection (68.03%). Further, the conservation of pairwise correlation values among descriptors in the entire and core set reflected the maintenance of the structure of the whole set. Based on the results, this core set is believed to represent the entire collection, completely. Therefore, it constitutes a potential set of germplasm that can be used in the genetic enhancement of lentils

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Measurement of the top quark forward-backward production asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric and chromomagnetic moments in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Abstract The parton-level top quark (t) forward-backward asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric (d̂ t) and chromomagnetic (μ̂ t) moments have been measured using LHC pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected in the CMS detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. The linearized variable AFB(1) is used to approximate the asymmetry. Candidate t t ¯ events decaying to a muon or electron and jets in final states with low and high Lorentz boosts are selected and reconstructed using a fit of the kinematic distributions of the decay products to those expected for t t ¯ final states. The values found for the parameters are AFB(1)=0.048−0.087+0.095(stat)−0.029+0.020(syst),μ̂t=−0.024−0.009+0.013(stat)−0.011+0.016(syst), and a limit is placed on the magnitude of | d̂ t| < 0.03 at 95% confidence level. [Figure not available: see fulltext.