A Regulatory approach to financial product advice and distribution

Financial distribution, where the distributor is the agent of both the product provider and the customer has been found to inherently work against the interests of customers, in the form of high service fees and perverse incentives in sales practices. This paper proposes segregation of financial advice from financial distribution. It proposes a Financial Advisers Bill, 2012, to promote the development of a market for advice. The Bill suggests that financial advisers be recognised as professionals and be regulated under a new statutory body called the Institute of Financial Advisers of India. The paper suggests that regulation of distributors continue to remain under the purview of product regulators. It outlines alternative models in which the distribution market may be organised. It also points out that the Ministry of Finance and the Financial Stability and Development Council need to play an active role in co-ordinating the setting of common standards for distribution across all product regulators.Consumer Protection; distribution regulation; mutual funds; insurance; pensions; investment advice

Multidisciplinary Management of Patients with Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Critical Appraisal of Current Evidence

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of new cancer diagnoses in the United States, with an incidence that is expected to rise. The etiology of HCC is varied and can lead to differences between patients in terms of presentation and natural history. Subsequently, physicians treating these patients need to consider a variety of disease and patient characteristics when they select from the many different treatment options that are available for these patients. At the same time, the treatment landscape for patients with HCC, particularly those with unresectable HCC, has been rapidly evolving as new, evidence-based options become available. The treatment plan for patients with HCC can include surgery, transplant, ablation, transarterial chemoembolization, transarterial radioembolization, radiation therapy, and/or systemic therapies. Implementing these different modalities, where the optimal sequence and/or combination has not been defined, requires coordination between physicians with different specialties, including interventional radiologists, hepatologists, and surgical and medical oncologists. As such, the implementation of a multidisciplinary team is necessary to develop a comprehensive care plan for patients, especially those with unresectable HCC

Non-Extractive Spectrophotometric Determination of Palladium in Biological Samples Using Pyridoxal Thiosemicarbazone (PTSC)

A very simple, highly selective and non-extractive spectrophotometric method for the trace amounts of palladium(II) has been developed. Pyridoxal thiosemicarbazone (PTSC) has been proposed as a new analytical reagent for the direct non-extractive spectrophotometric determination of palladium (II). The reagent reacts with palladium in acidic medium(pH 2.0, CH3COONa and Con. HCl ) to form a pale yellow coloured 1: 2 (M : L) complex. The reaction is instantaneous and the maximum absorption was obtained at 420 nm and remains stable for 2 hrs. The molar absorptivity and sandell's sensitivity were found to be 1.63 x 104 L mol-1 cm-1 and 0.635 μg cm-2 respectively. Linear calibration graphs were obtained for 0.9- 10.0 μg/ml of palladium(II). The method is highly selective for palladium and successfully used for determination of palladium in various hydrogenation catalysts

Groundwater Chemistry of South Karaikal and Nagapattinam Districts,Tamilnadu, India.

This study was carried out with the objective to find the ground water quality for the samples of south Karaikal and Nagapattinam. Ground water samples were collected from 14 wells located in this area and was analyzed for major ion concentration. The spatial variations of the ion concentrations have been studied. The suitability of water has been tested for different purposes specially for irrigation by groundwater by calculating the values of SAR, RSC & %NA. The Hill piper and Durov plots have been obtained to check the hardness of water.From overall analysis, it was observed that there was a slight fluctuation in the physico-chemical parameters among the water samples studied. Comparison of the physico-chemical parameters of the water sample with WHO and IS limits showed that the groundwater is not suitable for drinking purpose in the study area with few exceptions

An Extended Review on Fabric Defects and Its Detection Techniques

In Textile Industry, Quality of the Fabric is the main important factor. At the initial stage, it is very essential to identify and avoid the fabrics faults/defects and hence human perception consumes lot of time and cost to reveal the fabrics faults. Now-a-days Automated Inspection Systems are very useful to decrease the fault prediction time and gives best visualizing clarity- based on computer vision and image processing techniques. This paper made an extended review about the quality parameters in the fiber-to-fabric process, fabrics defects detection terminologies applied on major three clusters of fabric defects knitting, woven and sewing fabric defects. And this paper also explains about the statistical performance measures which are used to analyze the defect detection process. Also, comparison among the methods proposed in the field of fabric defect detection

Study of clinical presentation of malaria and the associated liver profile changes in various species of plasmodia

Background: Malaria is one of the most common widespread infectious diseases in the tropical developing countries. It affects nearly 300-500 million cases every year with a mortality rate of 1.2-2.7 million deaths per year. Objectives of the study were to study the clinical presentation and liver profile changes in acute malaria caused by various plasmodium species. Medical college and Research centre, Bijapur, Karnataka, India.Methods: One hundred subjects with peripheral smear positive for malarial parasite were included in the study. The alterations in liver profile laboratory parameters were determined in various plasmodium species and reported.Results: Of 100 patients, 44 were Plasmodium falciparum (Pf), 51 were Plasmodium vivax (Pv) and 5 were mixed (Pf + Pv) infection. Fever (97%), chills (83.2%) and sweating (73.26) were the predominant presenting symptoms. Splenomegaly was detected in 78-80% individuals. Jaundice was more common in P. falciparum and mixed infection as compared to P. vivax.Conclusions: Malaria is a potential cause of morbidity and mortality in the tropical countries. Jaundice is one of the common presentations of falciparum malaria. The raised serum bilirubin could be due to both hemolysis and hepatocellular dysfunction. Early diagnosis and treatment will help in reducing further complications like severe anaemia, hepatic encephalopathy, acute renal failure and disseminated intravascular coagulation

THE ROLE OF SIRAA VYADHANA IN TREATING BHASMAKA ROGA (ATYAGNI)

Acharya Charaka in Grahani Chikitsa Adhyaya explained about Siraa Vyadhana in the management of Atyagni. Atyagni can be considered as one of the serious conditions as it leads to severe weakness thereby patient may succumb to death also. Strength of the patient, nature and Seriousness of the disease should be considered before performing Siraa Vyadhana. Agni is a key factor in transformation of consumed Ahara Dravya of Vijatiya origin to Sajatiya nature with the help of Vata, converts the Ahara into Rasadi Dhatus and Malas. In this disorder mainly Vata and Agni plays major role. Because of this Anilaanalam the food is digested very quickly it leads to effect on Dhatwagni and Uttharothara Dhatu Prakriya. “Depletion of digestive fire†which is being developed after Siraa Vyadhana. Acharyas clearly explained about Raktha, Pitta and Agni relation in different concepts, if draw the Raktha from body directly it acts on Raktha Dhatu after that Rasa Dhatu, Dhatwagni Mandhya and Mandhata of Agni. So in Atyagni condition Siraa Vyadhana is one of the treatment modality. Intension of this paper is to highlight the concept and effect of Siraa Vyadhana in Atyagni (Bhasmaka Roga)