Eco-psychiatry and Environmental Conservation: Study from Sundarban Delta, India

Aims This study attempts to examine the extent and impact of human-animal conflicts visa-vis psychosocial stressors and mental health of affected people in two villages adjacent to Sundarban Reserve Forest (SRF) in the Gosaba Block, West Bengal, India. Methods Door to door household survey for incidents of human-animal conflicts, Focus Group Discussions, In-depth Interviews, Case studies, Community Mental health clinics and participatory observation. Results A total of 3084 households covering a population of 16,999 were surveyed. 32.8% people live on forest-based occupation. During the last 15 years 111 persons (male 83, female 28) became victims of animal attacks, viz, Tiger (82%), Crocodile (10.8%) and Shark (7.2%) of which 73.9% died. In 94.5% cases the conflict took place in and around the SRF during livelihood activities. Tracking of 66 widows, resulted from these conflicts, showed that majority of them (51.%) are either disabled or in a very poor health condition, 40.9% are in extreme economic stress and only 10.6% remarried. 1 widow committed suicide and 3 attempted suicide. A total of 178 persons (male 82, female 96) attended the community mental health clinics. Maximum cases were Major Depressive Disorder (14.6%), followed by Somatoform Pain Disorder (14.0%), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder-animal attack related (9.6%) and Adjustment Disorder (9%). 11.2% cases had history of deliberate self-harm attempt, of which 55% used pesticides. Conclusions Improvement of quality of life of this deltaic population by appropriate income generation and proper bio-forest management are the key factors to save their life as well as the mangrove environment of the Sundarban region

Properties of melt processed chitosan and aliphatic polyester blends

The activities (at pH 7 and 50°C) of purified EGV (Humicola insolens) and CenA (Cellulomonas fimi) were determined on cotton fabrics at high and low levels of mechanical agitation. Similar activity measurements were also made by using the core domains of these cellulases. Activity experiments suggested that the presence of cellulose binding domains (CBDs) is not essential for cellulase performance in the textile processes, where high levels of mechanical agitation are applied. The binding reversibilities of these cellulases and their cores were studied by dilution of the treatment liquor after equilibrium adsorption. EGV showed low percentage of adsorption under both levels of agitation. It was observed that the adsorption/desorption processes of cellulases are enhanced by higher mechanical agitation levels and that the binding of cellulase with CBD of family I (EGV) is more reversible than that of CBD of the cellulase of family II (CenA)

Osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells seeded on melt based chitosan scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the growth patterns and osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs) when seeded onto new biodegradable chitosan/polyester scaffolds. Scaffolds were obtained by melt blending chitosan with poly(butylene succinate) in a proportion of 50% (wt) each and further used to produce a fiber mesh scaffold. hBMSCs were seeded on those structures and cultured for 3 weeks under osteogenic conditions. Cells were able to reduce MTS and demonstrated increasing metabolic rates over time. SEM observations showed cell colonization at the surface as well as within the scaffolds. The presence of mineralized extracellular matrix (ECM) was successfully demonstrated by peaks corresponding to calcium and phosphorus elements detected in the EDS analysis. A further confirmation was obtained when carbonate and phosphate group peaks were identified in Fourier Transformed Infrared (FTIR) spectra. Moreover, by reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR analysis, it was observed the expression of osteogenic gene markers, namely, Runt related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), type 1 collagen, bone sialoprotein (BSP), and osteocalcin. Chitosan-PBS (Ch- PBS) biodegradable scaffolds support the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of hBMSCs cultured at their surface in vitro, enabling future in vivo testing for the development of bone tissue engineering therapies.Ana Costa-Pinto was supported by a grant (SFRH/24735/2005) from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology "Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia" (FCT). This work was partially supported by the EU Integrated Project GENOSTEM (Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells Engineering for connective tissue disorders: from the bench to the bedside, LSHB-CT-2003-5033161), and the European Network of Excellence EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283). The authors would like to acknowledge to the School of Health Sciences of the University of Minho for the opportunity of using its facilities

Numerical consistency check between two approaches to radiative corrections for neutrino masses and mixings

We briefly outline the two popular approaches on radiative corrections to neutrino masses and mixing angles, and then carry out a detailed numerical analysis for a consistency check between them in MSSM. We find that the two approaches are nearly consistent with a small discrepancy of a factor of 13 percent in mass eigenvalues at low energy scale, but the predictions on mixing angles are almost consistent. We check the stability of the three types of neutrino models, i.e., hierarchical, inverted hierarchical and degenerate models, under radiative corrections, using both approaches, and find consistent conclusions. The neutrino mass models which are found to be stable under radiative corrections in MSSM are the normal hierarchical model and the inverted hierarchical model with opposite CP parity. We also carry out numerical analysis on some important conjectures related to radiative corrections in MSSM, viz., radiative magnification of solar and atmospheric mixings in case of nearly degenerate model having same CP parity (MPR conjecture) and radiative generation of solar mass scale in exactly two-fold degenerate model with opposite CP parity and non-zero reactor angle (JM conjecture). We observe certain exceptions to these conjectures. Finally the effect of scale-dependent vacuum expectation value in neutrino mass renormalisation is discussed.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures,references added, typos corrected and text modifie

Comparative evaluation of real-time PCR and conventional RT-PCR during two year surveillance for Influenza and RSV among children with acute respiratory infections in Kolkata reveals distinct seasonality of infection

Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) are one of the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in young children all over the world. Influenza and Respiratory Syncytial viruses (RSV) are the predominant etiology during seasonal epidemics and thus rapid and sensitive molecular tests for screening & timely identification of epidemics are required. In this study we report comparison of real time PCR (Q-PCR) with conventional RT-PCR for parallel identification of Influenza A or B (Inf-A or -B) and RSV. A total of 1091 respiratory samples were examined from children with suspected ARTI during January 2007- December 2008. Of these 1091 samples, 275 (25.21%) were positive for either Influenza or RSV by Q-PCR compared to 262 (24%) positives by RT-PCR. Overall Inf-A, -B and RSV were detected in a total of 121 (11.075%), 59 (5.38%) and 95 (8.68%) samples respectively. In spite of overlapping clinical symptoms, RSV and Influenza showed distinct seasonal peaks. Inf-A positively and RSV, negatively correlated with rainfall and temperature. No distinct seasonality was observed in Inf-B infections. This is the first report of a systemic surveillance of respiratory viruses with seasonal correlation and prevalence rate from Eastern India. The two year comparative analysis also confirmed feasibility of using Q-PCR in developing countries, which will not only improve scope for prevention of epidemics but also provide crucial epidemiological data from the tropical regions

LASE Observations of Interactions Between African Easterly Waves and the Saharan Air Layer

The Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) participated in the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (NAMMA) field experiment in 2006 that was conducted from Sal, Cape Verde to study the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) and its influence on the African Easterly Waves (AEWs) and Tropical Cyclones (TCs). During NAMMA, LASE collected simultaneous water vapor and aerosol lidar measurements from 14 flights onboard the NASA DC- 8. In this paper we present three examples of the interaction of the SAL and AEWs regarding: moistening of the SAL and transfer of latent heat; injection of dust in an updraft; and influence of dry air intrusion on an AEW. A brief discussion is also given on activities related to the refurbishment of LASE to enhance its operational performance and plans to participate in the next NASA hurricane field experiment in the summer of 2010