Egg Freezing on Company Dollars: Making Biological Clock Irrelevant?

In an attempt to boost gender diversity, two of the technology giants of Silicon Valley, Apple and Facebook, announced in October 2014 that they would cover the costs of freezing eggs, so that women employees who want to pursue both motherhood and a serious career could conveniently ‘time’ their pregnancy. Intel followed suit in October 2015. Unlike other reproductive benefits aiming to cure a biological deficiency such as infertility, employers promote egg freezing as an investment towards women employees’ career success. Women employees may take advantage of this benefit for non-medical reasons to delay pregnancy and childbirth because of the lure of making the biological clock irrelevant on the employers’ dime, perhaps ignoring the possible emotional costs of delaying motherhood. This paper concludes that women should not outsource the responsibility of striking a balance between a rewarding career and a fulfilling motherhood to their employers. Delaying motherhood to achieve other personal goals may produce negative consequences for women and the society in general. Instead of trying to dictate the most private decisions of an employee’s life, employers should recognize parenthood as a natural phenomenon that may happen to both men and women within the span of their employment, and strive to design employee benefits that reflect a commitment to be supportive of parenthood. At the most egg-freezing can be included within an array of other family-friendly benefits such as adoption assistance, flexible work schedule, paid parental leave, infertility treatment and the like

Looking for the Top-squark at the Tevatron with four jets

The scalar partner of the top quark is relatively light in many models of supersymmetry breaking. We study the production of top squarks (stops) at the Tevatron collider and their subsequent decay through baryon-number violating couplings such that the final state contains no leptons. Performing a detector-level analysis, we demonstrate that, even in the absence of leptons or missing energy, stop masses upto 210 \gev/c^2 can be accessible at the Tevatron.Comment: 4 pages, 4 embedded figures, RevTe

Search for the lightest scalar top quark in R-parity violating decays at the LHC

The scalar partner of the top quark (the stop) is relatively light in many models of supersymmetry breaking. We study the production of stops at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and their subsequent decays through baryon-number violating couplings such that the final state contains no leptons. A detailed analysis performed using detector level observables demonstrate that stop masses upto \sim 600 \gev may be explored at the LHC depending on the branching ratios for such decays and the integrated luminosity available. Extended to other analogous scenarios, the analysis will, generically, probe even larger masses.Comment: 11 pages, 6 fig

Non small cell Carcinoma- Lung: Distribution and spectrum of mutations among patients in Eastern India

Background: Lung cancer is one of the most common malignancies in the world. About 80–85% of lung cancers are non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The development of therapeutic agents targeting products of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutation and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements has significantly improved survival in patients with NSCLC. Thus, the patients eligible for the treatment should be selected through appropriate molecular tests. Objective: The main objective was to study the distribution of NSCLC and its genetic mutations, in the patients of Eastern India. Methodology: A prospective study was carried out among 228 patients, in a tertiary care hospital of Eastern India during a period of 2 years from January 2016 to January 2018. We have included all the patients who were screened and found to have lug carcinoma. The detailed clinical history of the patients was recorded. We have used techniques such as radiology, histopathology, immunohistochemistry (IHC) and molecular study by FISH technique. Results: Out of 138 cases of NSCLC on histopathology 78 cases (56.7%) were reported as squamous cell carcinoma, 46 cases (33.3%) as adenocarcinoma and 14 cases (10.1%) as NSCLC. IHC was used for categorization of NSCLC cases which showed adenocarcinoma in 4 patients and squamous cell carcinoma in 10 patients. EGFR exon 19 deletion mutation was the predominant mutation in adenocarcinoma. Conclusion: Molecular study for genetic analysis has improved the scope for targeted therapy in Nonsmall cell carcinoma patients, thereby reducing mortality and morbidity in cases of lung carcinoma

Seasonal variation of soil enzymes in areas of fluoride stress in Birbhum District, West Bengal, India

AbstractSoil enzyme activities provide a unique biochemical means for assessing soil function as an indicator of soil fertility, which can be altered by a profusion of fluoride in the soil and seasonal changes. Seven sites were chosen in the fluoride-affected area of Nasipur, Birbhum District, West Bengal, India, to compare seasonal changes in enzymes (urease, amylase, cellulase and invertase), fluoride content, physicochemical characteristics and the availability of microbes in the soil with a control. The activity of all the enzymes varied with season. Urease had greater activity in the summer, followed by winter; it showed marginal differences from the control area during the winter (p<0.002) and summer (p<0.110) but a significant (p<0.000) difference during the rainy season. Soil pH had a negative impact on urease activity during both winter and summer. Cellulase activity was accelerated by the organic matter and organic carbon content of the soil. Fluoride therefore had the greatest activity against urease activity during the rainy, summer and winter seasons. The microbial population of the soil also showed a negative impact of fluoride, which may in turn affect the soil enzymes and characteristics

Antimony resistance mechanism in genetically different clinical isolates of Indian Kala-azar patients

The central theme of this enterprise is to find common features, if any, displayed by genetically different antimony (Sb)-resistant viscerotropic Leishmania parasites to impart Sb resistance. In a limited number of clinical isolates (n = 3), we studied the breadth of variation in the following dimensions: (a) intracellular thiol content, (b) cell surface expression of glycan having N-acetyl-D-galactosaminyl residue as the terminal sugar, and (c) gene expression of thiol-synthesizing enzymes (CBS, MST, gamma-GCS, ODC, and TR), antimony-reducing enzymes (TDR and ACR2), and antimonial transporter genes (AQP1, MRPA, and PRP1). One of the isolates, T5, that was genotypically characterized as Leishmania tropica, caused Indian Kala-azar and was phenotypically Sb resistant (T5-LT-SSG-R), while the other two were Leishmania donovani, out of which one isolate, AG83, is antimony sensitive (AG83-LD-SSG-S) and the other isolate, T8, is Sb resistant (T8-LD-SSG-R). Our study showed that the Sb-resistant parasites, regardless of their genotype, showed significantly higher intracellular thiol compared with Sb-sensitive AG83-LD-SSG-S. Seemingly, T5-LT-SSG-R showed about 1.9-fold higher thiol content compared with T8-LD-SSG-R which essentially mirrored cell surface N-acetyl-D-galactosaminyl expression. Except TR, the expression of the remaining thiol-synthesizing genes was significantly higher in T8-LD-SSG-R and T5-LT-SSG-R than the sensitive one, and between the Sb-resistant parasites, the latter showed a significantly higher expression. Furthermore, the genes for Sb-reducing enzymes increased significantly in resistant parasites regardless of genotype compared with the sensitive one, and between two resistant parasites, there was hardly any difference in expression. Out of three antimony transporters, AQP1 was decreased with the concurrent increase in MRPA and PRP1 in resistant isolates when compared with the sensitive counterpart. Interestingly, no difference in expression of the above-mentioned transporters was noted between two Sb-resistant isolates. The enduring image that resonated from our study is that the genetically diverse Sb-resistant parasites showed enhanced thiol-synthesizing and antimony transporter gene expression than the sensitive counterpart to confer a resistant phenotype

Estimation of Stature using Upper Limb Dimensions among the Adolescent Population of Kolkata: An Analytical Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Apart from age, sex and racial affiliation, the estimation of stature from human extremities is an important step in developing a biological profile for identifying an unknown individual, especially when the body found is either dismembered, mutilated, or disfigured. Aim: To estimate the stature from upper arm dimensions such as arm span, Hand Length (HL) and Hand Breadth (HB) in the adolescent age group of the West Bengal population. Materials and Methods: The present analytical cross-sectional study was conducted at a school in Kolkata from January 2023 to March 2023, involving 120 adolescent school-going boys aged 10-16 years. The arm span, HL and HB of both right and left hands were measured using standard anthropometric procedures. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationship between stature and various upper limb dimensions. The significance of differences was tested using an independent t-test. Results: The mean age of the study population was 12.05 years. The mean of arm span was 145.83 cm and, mean of HB (right and left sides) and; HL (right and left sides) were 7.52953 cm and 7.52955 cm; 16.13221 cm and 16.13218 cm, respectively. Univariate linear regression analysis showed that all variables, including arm span, HB and HL were significant predictors of stature (p-value <0.01). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that arm span (R2=89.81%) and HL (R2=75.69%) had the highest prediction accuracy for stature. Conclusion: All variables (arm span, HL and HB) were found to be statistically significant predictors of stature, with arm span and HL having the highest prediction accuracy. These measurements of upper limbs and regression equations can be used for the identification of unknown human remains, particularly in cases of dismembered bodies

Vulnerability of bus and truck drivers affected from vehicle engine noise

The purpose of this study was to find out the vulnerability of bus and truck drivers due to constant exposure of vehicle-engine noise inside the vehicle cabin. Comparative results revealed that noise levels inside the cabin of buses and trucks were in the range of 88.6–102.4 dB and 87.95–103.4 dB, respectively. The health status of bus and truck drivers was assessed by measuring their systolic and diastolic pressure, pulse rate, BMI, digestion problem, hearing loss, vision problem, back pain and irritation. Paired t-test of the results revealed non-significant (p < 0.05) relation between systolic and diastolic pressure of both bus and truck drivers. The pulse rate of truck driver was significantly (p < 0.01) related with noise level inside the cabin of truck. The humidity level inside the cabin showed a positive relation with vehicle age (p < 0.01) and driving period (p < 0.01). This study clearly suggests that vehicle engine noise adversely affects the cardiovascular health of both bus and truck drivers

Increased Formation of Oxepanes in Non-Aqueous Medium in the Cycloaddition of 3-O-allyl-1,2-Isopropylidenefuranose N-Ph Nitrones

Cycloaddition of 3-O-allyl-1,2-isopropylidene N-Ph nitrones afforded appreciably increased yields of oxepanes compared to the corresponding N-Me or N-Bn nitrones. Higher yields permitted some useful further transformations of the oxepanes

Two-dimensional void probability scaling of grey tracks emitted in ²⁴ Mg-AgBr interaction at 4.5 AGeV/c

637-640This paper presents a very rigorous study of two-dimensional void probability scaling of medium energy target protons emitted in ²⁴Mg-AgBr interaction at 4.5 AGeV/c in terms of their emission angle (θ) and azimuthal angle φ.The study indicates that the two-dimensional void probability scaling holds good for the total region of phase space