A STUDY ON ETHICAL ISSUES IN ADVERTISING AND ANALYZING DIFFERENT UNETHICAL ADVERTISEMENTS WITH RESULTS OF ASCI DECISIONS: AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

The focus of this paper is to study the ethical issues that arise in print and television advertising and also analyzing the various types of unethical advertisement in India with reference to ASCI principles. Today the India’s advertising industry is expanding its business at a rapid rate. India’s advertising industry in very little time has carved a niche for itself and placed itself on a global map. But over the years advertising and marketing communication messages have created debatable ethical issues like surrogate advertising, puffery, unverified claims, women stereotype, comparative advertising, use of children in advertising etc. In today’s competitive market, advertisers are sometimes following the unethical practices to fight the competition. We have analyzed with the help of examples the different unethical practices used by advertisers in advertisements in India and also discussed some real life cases solved by CCC (Consumer complaint council) following the necessary ASCI Codes for it.

Gene Expression Profiling and Network Analysis Reveals Lipid and Steroid Metabolism to Be the Most Favored by TNFα in HepG2 Cells

BACKGROUND: The proinflammatory cytokine, TNFalpha, is a crucial mediator of the pathogenesis of several diseases, more so in cases involving the liver wherein it is critical in maintaining liver homeostasis since it is a major determiner of hepatocyte life and death. Gene expression profiling serves as an appropriate strategy to unravel the underlying signatures to envisage such varied responses and considering this, gene transcription profiling was examined in control and TNFalpha treated HepG2 cells. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Microarray experiments between control and TNFalpha treated HepG2 cells indicated that TNFalpha could significantly alter the expression profiling of 140 genes; among those up-regulated, several GO (Gene Ontology) terms related to lipid and fat metabolism were significantly (p<0.01) overrepresented indicating a global preference of fat metabolism within the hepatocyte and those within the down-regulated dataset included genes involved in several aspects of the immune response like immunoglobulin receptor activity and IgE binding thereby indicating a compromise in the immune defense mechanism(s). Conserved transcription factor binding sites were identified in identically clustered genes within a common GO term and SREBP-1 and FOXJ2 depicted increased occupation of their respective binding elements in the presence of TNFalpha. The interacting network of "lipid metabolism, small molecule biochemistry" was derived to be significantly overrepresented that correlated well with the top canonical pathway of "biosynthesis of steroids". CONCLUSIONS: TNFalpha alters the transcriptome profiling within HepG2 cells with an interesting catalog of genes being affected and those involved in lipid and steroid metabolism to be the most favored. This study represents a composite analysis of the effects of TNFalpha in HepG2 cells that encompasses the altered transcriptome profiling, the functional analysis of the up- and down- regulated genes and the identification of conserved transcription factor binding sites. These could possibly determine TNFalpha mediated alterations mainly the phenotypes of hepatic steatosis and fatty liver associated with several hepatic pathological states

Role of methotrexate in ectopic pregnancy

Background: Ectopic pregnancy is an acute emergency in obstetric if not timely diagnosed and timely treated. Ectopic pregnancy is leading cause of death in first trimester. Ectopic pregnancy can be managed surgically or medically. Medical management with Methotrexate administration avoids anesthesia in surgery, is cost effective and also offers success rate comparable to surgical management. Aim and objectives were to study the role of methotrexate in ectopic pregnancyMethods: This will be a retrospective observational study conducted in Obstetrics and Gynecology department of AMC MET medical college. Study group constitutes of 30 females with ectopic pregnancy. Preliminary blood investigations, ultrasonography and beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (b-hcg) level will be tested. Patients will be treated with single dose of methotrexate 50 mg/M2. Follow up b-hcg level will be done after 48 hours. Response and tolerance to methotrexate will be monitored.Results: The success rate of methotrexate therapy in our study was 83.33% (n=25) and 16.66% (n=5) required surgical intervention with tubal ruptured and abdominal pain.Conclusions: Methotrexate treatment of ectopic pregnancies is safe and effective with no major side effects. It has the advantage of tubal conservation and saves patients from surgical intervention

Gene Expression Profiling of the Hepatic Transcriptome in Presence of TNF-alpha

Diabetes mellitus, often simply termed Diabetes, is a syndrome characterized by disordered metabolism and high blood sugar. It is caused due to low levels of insulin hormone or from abnormal resistance to insulin in its target tissues. World Health Organization estimates that India will alone have 79.4 million diabetic patients in 2030. One of its major form Type 2 diabetes, is often associated with obesity, hypertension, elevated cholesterol and metabolic syndrome. Changes in life style, such as consumption of high-calorie diet and lack of exercise, have increased the global prevalence not only of diabetes but also of obesity. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance in target tissue, occurs due to several reasons and one of them being the proinflammatory cytokine, TNF-&#x3b1;. It is also known as the link between diabetes and obesity. High levels of TNF-&#x3b1; interfere with insulin signaling to cause the effect and to further investigate into the situation, gene transcription profiling was examined in control and TNF-&#x3b1; treated HepG2 cells. Results indicated that TNF-&#x3b1; could significantly alter the expression of a significant number of genes that were identified to be related to lipid and fat metabolism on one hand and to immunoglobulin receptor activity and IgE binding thereby on the other thereby indicating global dysregulation of fat metabolism and compromise in immune defense mechanism(s) within the hepatocyte by TNF-&#x3b1;. Pathway analysis revealed &#x201c;biosynthesis of steroids&#x201d; to be most effected. All these indicate TNF-&#x3b1; to be significantly altering the transcriptome profiling within HepG2 cells with genes involved in lipid and steroid metabolism being the most favoured and this could explain one of the underlying mechanisms of TNF-&#x3b1; action in the liver. &#xd;&#xa;&#xd;&#xa

Resilience Approach of Ayurveda: nCOV-19 Pandemic

Introduction: The coronavirus disease, nCOV-19 pandemic is exceptional and unprecedented in many aspects and it has shaken the health care system at global level. The several studies reported on nCOV-19 suggest that, immunization is the only way to fight against it. For this, Ayurveda is the most imperative as it recommends a healthy lifestyle instead of the mere prescription of medicines. Methodology: Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga &amp; Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy is purposed with developing education, research and propagation of indigenous alternative medicine systems in India (Ministry of AYUSH). The Ministry is headed by a Minister of State, which is currently held by Shripad Yesso Naik and has recommended some measures to be followed in building strength by following the holistic approach of Ayurveda toward Swasthavritta. Thus, the present paper focuses on analysing the public perception towards Ayurveda measures using the most popular statistical techniques as ANOVA. Results: The analysis of data indicated that, the people are mesmerised by the concept of Ayurveda and are following all the possible precautions to save themselves from the effect of COVID-19. Older generation has a firm believe on the vedic science as compared to the younger generation. Conclusion: The classic of Ayurveda ‘Charaka Samhita’ describes the epidemic management and it defines immunity as the most essential to prevent diseases and arrest its progress. The foundation of Ayurveda is to building strength of mind and body to manage with different stressors, including infections. The Ayurveda concept of immunity (Bala or strength) is categorized as natural (Sahaja), chronobiologic (Kalaja), and acquired (Yuktikrut). Henceforth, we can achieve the aim of Ayurveda i.e. the Swasthasya Swasthya Rakshanam and Aturasya Vikar Prashamanam, against nCOV-19 pandemic

Hidden Power of Yoga in COVID19: A cross sectional study

The world is under the various psychological diseases because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The whole world is suffering from stress and anxiety as the future is unprecedented. In this tough time, people are trying to adopt various activities to keep themselves free from stress and to enhance the immunity levels. For this they are valuing the traditional practices of our Indian heritages such Ayurveda and Yoga. Therefore, to know the perception of common population of Greater Faridabad, Haryana towards the Yogic practices, this study has been conducted during this pandemic in which total 395 participants of both genders took part. The evidence indicated that younger people have more belief and interest in Yogic Practices than elderly people. The result has a significant difference at 0.05 level of confidence. Furthermore, the hypothesis has been accepted that Yoga has a potential to manage the health and immunity

A constitutive expression system for cellulase secretion in Escherichia coli and its use in bioethanol production.

The production of biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass appears to be attractive and viable due to the abundance and availability of this biomass. The hydrolysis of this biomass, however, is challenging because of the complex lignocellulosic structure. The ability to produce hydrolytic cellulase enzymes in a cost-effective manner will certainly accelerate the process of making lignocellulosic ethanol production a commercial reality. These cellulases may need to be produced aerobically to generate large amounts of protein in a short time or anaerobically to produce biofuels from cellulose via consolidated bioprocessing. Therefore, it is important to identify a promoter that can constitutively drive the expression of cellulases under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions without the need for an inducer. Using lacZ as reporter gene, we analyzed the strength of the promoters of four genes, namely lacZ, gapA, ldhA and pflB, and found that the gapA promoter yielded the maximum expression of the β-galactosidase enzyme under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. We further cloned the genes for two cellulolytic enzymes, β-1,4-endoglucanase and β-1,4-glucosidase, under the control of the gapA promoter, and we expressed these genes in Escherichia coli, which secreted the products into the extracellular medium. An ethanologenic E. colistrain transformed with the secretory β-glucosidase gene construct fermented cellobiose in both defined and complex medium. This recombinant strain also fermented wheat straw hydrolysate containing glucose, xylose and cellobiose into ethanol with an 85% efficiency of biotransformation. An ethanologenic strain that constitutively secretes a cellulolytic enzyme is a promising platform for producing lignocellulosic ethanol

Modulation of endogenous pathways enhances bioethanol yield and productivity in Escherichia coli

Abstract Background E. coli is a robust host for various genetic manipulations and has been used commonly for bioconversion of hexose and pentose sugars into valuable products. One of the products that E. coli make under fermentative condition is ethanol. However, availability of limited reducing equivalence and generation of competing co-products undermine ethanol yield and productivity. Here, we have constructed an E. coli strain to produce high yield of ethanol from hexose and pentose sugars by modulating the expression of pyruvate dehydrogenase and acetate kinase and by deleting pathways for competing co-products. Results The availability of reducing equivalence in E. coli was increased by inducing the expression of the pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) operon under anaerobic condition after replacement of its promoter with the promoters of ldhA, frdA, pflB, adhE and gapA. The SSY05 strain, where PDH operon was expressed under gapA promoter, demonstrated highest PDH activity and maximum improvement in ethanol yield. Deletion of genes responsible for competing products, such as lactate (ldhA), succinate (frdA), acetate (ack) and formate (pflB), led to significant reduction in growth rate under anaerobic condition. Modulation of acetate kinase expression in SSY09 strain regained cell growth rate and ethanol was produced at the maximum rate of 12 mmol/l/h from glucose. The resultant SSY09(pZSack) strain efficiently fermented xylose under microaerobic condition and produced 25 g/l ethanol at the maximum rate of 6.84 mmol/l/h with 97% of the theoretical yield. More importantly, fermentation of mixture of glucose and xylose was achieved by SSY09(pZSack) strain under microaerobic condition and ethanol was produced at the maximum rate of 0.7 g/l/h (15 mmol/l/h), respectively, with greater than 85% of theoretical yield. Conclusions The E. coli strain SSY09(pZSack) constructed via endogenous pathway engineering fermented glucose and xylose to ethanol with high yield and productivity. This strain lacking any foreign gene for ethanol fermentation is likely to be genetically more stable and therefore should be tested further for the fermentation of lignocellulosic hydrolysate at higher scale.</p