First report on Apanteles ruidus, Wilkinson reared on Hyblaea puera (Lepidoptera: Hyblaeidae) teak defoliator from India

The present investigation is based on the first report on Apanteles ruidus, Wilkinson (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), reported for the first time on teak defoliator Hyblaea puera (Lepidoptera: Hyblaeidae) a serious pest of teak Tectona grandis (Lamiaceae) from Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. The investigation was carried out in the adjoining agro-forestry areas of Uttarakhand. The extensive collection of defoliator larvae from various forest trees species for laboratory rearing and emergence of Apanteles spp. The wasps were bred from parasitized larvae of H. puera in laboratory which were collected from teak forest, Thano range, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Presently studied species, A. ruidus may also be used as biological control agent against teak defoliator H. puera after determining its biological control potential, followed by developing their mass multiplication techniques. Thus, Apanteles species are vital larval parasitoids of several lepidopterous insect pests of economic importance to agricultural crops, commercial cash crops and forest tree species. Therefore, there are fare chances of its application against the insect pests of forest tree species without adverse effect on biodiversity

Exploring the Effectiveness of AI Algorithms in Predicting and Enhancing Student Engagement in an E-Learning

The shift from traditional to digital learning platforms has highlighted the need for more personalized and engaging student experiences. In response, researchers are investigating AI algorithms' ability to predict and improve e-learning student engagement.  Machine Learning (ML) methods like Decision Trees, Support Vector Machines, and Deep Learning models can predict student engagement using variables like interaction patterns, learning behavior, and academic performance. These AI algorithms have identified at-risk students, enabling early interventions and personalized learning. By providing adaptive content, personalized feedback, and immersive learning environments, some AI methods have increased student engagement. Despite these advances, data privacy, unstructured data, and transparent and interpretable models remain challenges. The review concludes that AI has great potential to improve e-learning outcomes, but these challenges must be addressed for ethical and effective applications. Future research should develop more robust and interpretable AI models, multidimensional engagement metrics, and more comprehensive studies on AI's ethical implications in education

Key to Indian species of genus Brachygrammatella Girault (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) with re-description of B. indica and some new distributional records

The aim of the study was to re-describe the egg parasitoid Brachygrammatella indica Viggiani and Hayat with some additional morphometric characters, especially of the genitalic component with SEM photography, they are mostly attacked on eggs of hemipterous insect pests and they keep their population under check and balance. During present research, materials were collected from the forestry and adjoining agro-forestry areas of Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh by sweeping with net and parasitized eggs collection. In this paper Brachygrammatella indica Viggiani & Hayat is re-described with some new distributional records and key to Indian species of genus Brachygrammatella Girault also updated

Application of Spatiotemporal Fuzzy C-Means Clustering for Crime Spot Detection

The various sources generate large volume of spatiotemporal data of different types including crime events. In order to detect crime spot and predict future events, their analysis is important. Crime events are spatiotemporal in nature; therefore a distance function is defined for spatiotemporal events and is used in Fuzzy C-Means algorithm for crime analysis. This distance function takes care of both spatial and temporal components of spatiotemporal data. We adopt sum of squared error (SSE) approach and Dunn index to measure the quality of clusters. We also perform the experimentation on real world crime data to identify spatiotemporal crime clusters.

A Search for Identity: A Female Centric Study of the Novels of Nayantara Sehgal

Navantara Sehgal seeks to present in each of her novels, a consistent point of her moves from satire and irony to a positive constructive vision. Sehgal appears to be trading in new and perhaps intense areas of experience confronting with fresh insights and lyrical contents of human life. The novels of Sehgal give creative release to feminine sensibility and articulate the birth pangs of a new socio-political order like Virginia Woolf and Anita Desai. Nayantara Sehgal is also a prose rhapsodist of sentiments, Feelings and emotions passing through human stream of consciousness. In her novels the protagonist is in a pursuit of self knowledge. The transition in the women's consciousness in India has continued. The Indian woman is weir on her way to move from the feminine or feminist face to the face of displacement and self discovery. In Nayantara Sehgal's work the new women comes out in more prominent way to escape the deadlock perpetuated by the unilateral dictates of a perniciously effective patriarchal form of society. This, centrifugal revolt takes definite shape in her novels. Though divorce has been depicted as an alternative way of life but it is not the escape but the way to curb the drudgery perpetrated through discriminatory laws promulgated by the male dominated society. She is an iconoclast in her own right as she succeeds in demolishing the hitherto held myths and images of the Indian women; the "Patiparmeshwar image": i.e. the husband is god. Novels bring out Nayantara Sehgal as a writer with feminist concerns seeking independent existence of women. She sees women as victims of conventional Indian society engaged in their quest for identity

Improving health care delivery through Islamization of medical practice

Advances in modern science and technology have not only reduced mortality from communicable diseases but increased physical comfort, life expectancy and quality of life. However its advances have generated changes in the moral values and basic philosophies of mankind, a bi-product being loss of faith in religion as a partner in healing. This has resulted in changes in lifestyle, moral degradation, laxity in sexual behaviours, and disrupting social values. New diseases caused by negative lifestyles such as sexual promiscuity, alcoholism, illicit drug use and smoking, take the greatest toll in terms of deaths and disability among young people. As a consequence, relevant international organizations have supported more novel approaches to health promotion.Good health is the basic requirement of every human being and one of the greatest blessings of ALLAH (SWT) on mankind. The Islamic way of life is a system of divine principles sent by Allah swt through revelation on Prophet Muhammad (saw) which covers physical, intellectual and spiritual needs of human life. It has many constructive ideas to offer in the field of health care and medical practice. It contains many teachings that urge nurturing of one’s health and rejecting any behaviour, which are contradictory to health. Therefore by adopting an “Islamic way of life” we can promote behavioural change. Since Islam encourages adoption of modern technology and science in support of a greater good, we must understand it and adopt all that is good in it and propagate it in the spirit of Tawhid (Unity of God), for the benefit of all humanity. This paper seeks to analyse how medical professionals can promote healthy behaviour to specific target groups and public in general through teachings of Islam

Design and synthesis of new Zn(II) nalidixic acid-DACH based Topo-II inhibiting molecular entity: Chemotherapeutic potential validated by its in vitro binding profile, pBR322 cleavage activity and molecular docking studies with \DNA\ and \RNA\ molecular targets

International audienceNalidixic acid-DACH based Zn(II) molecular entity (1) was synthesized and thoroughly characterized by spectroscopic techniques (FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR, ESI-MS) and single crystal X-ray crystallography as a potential chemotherapeutic drug candidate. The comparative in vitro binding studies of complex 1 with targets like CT-DNA and yeast tRNA were carried out by employing UV-vis, emission spectroscopy, circular dichorism and viscosity which revealed higher binding affinity of 1 towards yeast tRNA as compared to CT-DNA. Complex 1 cleaves pBR322 plasmid via hydrolytic pathway (validated by \T4\ religation assay); in addition, 1 also exhibited significant inhibitory effects on the catalytic activity of Topo-II at a concentration of 30 μM. Further, validation of the interaction studies was accompolished by carrying out molecular docking studies with DNA, \RNA\ and Topo-II targets. This work also advances our knowledge for the development and design of small \RNA\ targeted therapeutic molecules which were relatively under exploited drug targets

Biological control of eucalyptus Gall wasp, Leptocybe invasa Fisher & La Salle (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) in Punjab, India

In this investigation, biological control of eucalyptus Gall wasp, Leptocybe invasa Fisher & La Salle (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) in Punjab, India was investigated. The genus Leptocybe Fisher & La Salle (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) was founded with its type species, L. invasa from Israel in 2004. Adult wasps of L. invasa   induce galls on the shoots and midribs of leaves of Eucalyptus sp. and also damage nursery seedlings and young plantations. In the present study, survey was carried out from the year 2012 to 2014, on gall wasp infestation in different eucalyptus growing areas of Punjab. Observations  revealed  that  eucalyptus  growing  areas  in  Punjab were  under  the threat  of  attack  by  gall  wasp,  L. invasa.  During the present study, biological control agents Megastimus viggianii and Quadrastichus mendeli have been successfully applied in the gall infested areas of Punjab, from 2012 to 2017, where infestation of gall wasp was regularly decreased and came below 10 % by July, 2017. Consequently, Eucalyptus gall forming insect L. invasa has been controlled successfully by applying the biological control through releasing the parasitoids (Megastimus viggianii and Quadrastichus mendeli), in Punjab, India

Study prevalence of peripheral arterial disease in diabetics with coronary artery disease at a large tertiary care teaching hospital in North India

Background: Peripheral arterial disease and coronary artery disease have similar factors. The extent and severity of PAD is significantly associated with presence and severity of CAD.Methods: Patients were interviewed and clinical profile of patients including risk factors of coronary artery disease like diabetes, hypertension, smoking, dyslipidemia, obesity and family history of coronary artery disease were assessed and recorded in the proforma. Information regarding demographics, co morbidity, past history and family history was collected. Physical examination of each patient was carried and basic anthropometric data: height, weight, BMI and blood pressure, peripheral pulses calculated. Investigations both non- invasive and invasive including peripheral angiography were recorded.Results: In this prospective study fifty (50) type 2 diabetes patients admitted with CAD were studied whose mean age was 55.6+8.2 and mean duration of diabetes was 6.8+8.4. In this study none of the patients with PAD had single atherosclerosis risk factors including diabetes. 30% patients were having two risk factors. PAD in in patients with CAD is particularly enhanced by the concomitant occurrence of two or more of these risk factors (p=0.016). Hypertension as a predictor of PAD was statistically significant (p=0.0037). In this study the duration of diabetes was 10 years in 40% of patients with angiographically proven PAD.Conclusions: It was observed that presence and severity CAD was significantly associated with PAD

Inhibiting CDK6 activity by quercetin is an attractive strategy for cancer therapy

Cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (CDK6) is a potential drug target that plays an important role in the progression of different types of cancers. We performed in silico and in vitro screening of different natural compounds and found that quercetin has a high binding affinity for the CDK6 and inhibits its activity with an IC50 = 5.89 μM. Molecular docking and a 200 ns whole atom simulation of the CDK6-quercetin complex provide insights into the binding mechanism and stability of the complex. Binding parameters ascertained by fluorescence and isothermal titration calorimetry studies revealed a binding constant in the range of 107 M−1 of quercetin to the CDK6. Thermodynamic parameters associated with the formation of the CDK6−quercetin complex suggested an electrostatic interaction-driven process. The cell-based protein expression studies in the breast (MCF-7) and lung (A549) cancer cells revealed that the treatment of quercetin decreases the expression of CDK6. Quercetin also decreases the viability and colony formation potential of selected cancer cells. Moreover, quercetin induces apoptosis, by decreasing the production of reactive oxygen species and CDK6 expression. Both in silico and in vitro studies highlight the significance of quercetin for the development of anticancer leads in terms of CDK6 inhibitors