Women in Society and in the Church of Tamil Nadu

M. Baby Kamala shows that Tamil society, formerly matriarchal and pluralistic, is now patriarchal, and women in the society are in an ambiguous position. They are culturally voiceless and politically powerless. Customs and hardline practices suppress and oppress them. In arguing that women are victims both in society and in the Church, Kamala discusses such issues as low wages for women, inheritance laws, female infanticide, the dowry, and calls for a “discipleship of equals” as a new way of being Church in Asia

The burden of caesarean section and its determinants from a tertiary care hospital, Thrissur, Kerala, India

Background: Caesarean section is a surgical procedure done when vaginal delivery is contraindicated. The prevalence of caesarean section in Kerala showing an increasing trend. Even though the caesarean section is an emergency lifesaving procedure, various other factors like socio-demographic determinants, economic factors and patient’s or clinician’s preferences also influence this increasing trend. The present study was undertaken to compare the various determinants of caesarean section with normal delivery from a tertiary care hospital in Thrissur district.Methods: A hospital-based case control study was done taking mothers who had undergone caesarean section as cases and mothers who had undergone normal delivery as controls during two-month period. The sample size was calculated using the formulae: (Zα + Zβ)2x2xPQ/d2, and the calculated sample size was 88. The various determinants used were socio-demographic, obstetrics and cultural determinants.Results: In this study, it was found that the most common indications for C-section were previous C-section, PPROM and foetal distress. There was a statistically significant association between obstetrics determinants like complications during pregnancy, number of USG taken, period of gestation with mode of delivery. The present study also shows that mothers with educational status up to graduate/PG have lesser incidence of caesarean section. There was a statistically significant association between delivery date close to holidays/festival days and C-section.Conclusions: It is necessary to have health awareness sessions to pregnant mothers about the complication of pregnancy, benefits of normal delivery and complications of C-sections in-order to reduce the patients’ preference for C-section

PHOSPHATE SOLUBILIZING MICROBES: AN EFFECTIVE AND ALTERNATIVE APPROACH AS BIOFERTILIZERS

It is undoubtedly clear that phosphorus is the second most important nutrient after nitrogen required for growth of plants. It is an essential element in all living systems. Hardly 1%-2% of phosphorous is supplied to other parts of the plants. Plants acquire phosphorus from soil solution in the form of phosphate anion. It is the least mobile element in plant and soil in comparison to other macronutrients. It remains in a precipitated form in the soil as mono or orthophosphate or is absorbed by Fe or Al oxides through legend exchange. Generally, the phosphate solubilizing microorganisms (PSM) play a very important role in phosphorus nutrition by exchanging its availability to plants through release from inorganic and organic soil phosphorus pools by solubilization and mineralization. The main mechanism in the soil for mineral phosphate solubilization is by lowering the soil pH by the microbial production of organic acids and mineralization of organic phosphorus by acid phosphates. To fulfill the phosphorous demand of plant, an additional source of phosphorous is applied to plants in the form of chemical fertilizers. One of the most common forms of phosphate is fertilizers in the form of rock phosphate or superphosphate. It is not suggested to apply these phosphates directly to soil as there are so many environmental problems. Hence, biofertilizers or microbial inoculants are used as an alternate source, which are both economic as well as eco-friendly.Â

Circulating concentrations of ovarian

steroids and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in ewes with 3 or 4 waves of antral follicle emergence per estrous cycl

COMPARATIVE DOCKING STUDIES ON THE EFFECT OF COMMERCIAL DRUGS ON DIPEPTIDYL PEPTIDASE-4 (DPP-4)

Objective: The aim of our study was to validate the accuracy of computational tools in drug discovery and molecular interaction studies by studying the inhibitory activity of various commercial drugs on DPP-4.Methods: In order to validate the accuracy of computational tools, 50 commercially available drugs were docked with DPP-4, a major target for type 2 diabetes treatment. Studies were performed using Discovery studio 3.5.Results: The analysis showed that out of the fifty selected drugs, 33 drugs passed the Lipinski's rule and commercially prescribed drugs namely Sulfonylurea, Pregabalin and Metaformin were found to have maximum interaction with the target.Conclusion: These major drugs which yielded the best results were found to be used in the treatment of diabetes which reconfirms the efficacy of these drugs, druggability of the target as well as the accuracy of the tool used

Review on resources, cultivation and utilisation of marine macroalgae in India

Marine macro algae, popularly known as seaweeds belong to non-flowering plants and inhabit the marine ecosystem. These autotrophic plants are commonly found in intertidal as well as in the subtidal regions of the sea. Based on morphology, cellwall and pigment composition, they are classified into green (Chlorophyceae), red (Rhodophyceae) and brown (Phaeophyceae) algae (Chapman, 1970). In India, certain coastal pockets of the peninsular coast comprising nine maritime states and Andaman-Nicobar as well as the Laccadive Archipelago harbour dense beds of these marine algae that can be exploited for commercial purposes. More than 10,000 species of marine algae have been reported from all over the world

Guía de Análisis para determinar la naturaleza de los canales de distribución-Un enfoque con orientación hacia el mercado

This article studies the channels of distribution in the pharmaceutical consumer market in Medellin. It presents an illustration of the implementation of some steps of a procedure or approach to design or review the nature of the distribution channels of the firm. The procedure assumes market requirements to be one of the driving forces shaping the decisions made by firms, regarding channels of distribution. Thus, buying behavior and service requirements of final consumers, retailers and wholesalers were investigated. This article shows how to carry out basic analysis leading to the design of new channels and to the assessment of existing ones, as well as to the improvement of relations among channel members, based on market´s buying behavior and service requirements.El presente artículo se refiere a los canales de distribución en el mercado de consumo de medicamentos en la ciudad de Medellín. Se presenta una ilustración de la aplicación de algunos pasos de un procedimiento o enfoque para diseñar o revisar la naturaleza de los canales de distribución de una empresa. El procedimiento toma las exigencias del mercado como motor parcial de las decisiones de la empresa fabricante acerca de sus canales de distribución. En consecuencia, se investigaron algunos hábitos de compra y exigencias o atributos importantes al momento de la compra, tanto de los compradores finales, como de los minoristas y de los mayoristas. Se muestra cómo, a partir de ese conjunto de hábitos y exigencias, se pueden llevar a cabo análisis fundamentales para el diseño de nuevos canales, para la revisión de los existentes o para mejorar las relaciones entre los componentes del canal